Cornett: Quotation in The Works of Frederic Rzewski

QUOTATION, REVOLUTION, AND AMERICAN CULTURE:
THE USE OF FOLK TUNES AND THE INFLUENCE
OF CHARLES IVES IN FREDERIC RZEWSKI’S
NORTH AMERICAN BALLADS
FOR SOLO PIANO
by
Vanessa Comett-Murtada
A Dissertation Submitted to
the Faculty of The Graduate School at
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Musical Arts
Greensboro
2004
Approved by
Chair
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UMI Number: 3126774
Copyright 2004 by
Cornett-Murtada, Vanessa
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© 2004 by Vanessa Comett-Murtada
CORNETT-MURTADA, VANESSA, D.M.A. Quotation, Revolution, and American
Culture; The Use of Eolk Tunes and the Influence of Charles Ives in Frederic Rzewski’s
North American Ballads for Solo Piano. (2004)
Directed by Dr. J. Kent Williams. 166 pp.
The music of American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) has generated
outstanding research in the areas of compositional technique and the use of musical
borrowing. Ives incorporated quotations of hundreds of American folk tunes, patriotic
songs, and hymns into his compositions. More recently, American composer Frederic
Rzewski (b. 1938) directly quotes American folk melodies in a significant portion of his
piano music. The purpose of this study was to compare the use of borrowed folk material
in the music of both Ives and Rzewski, including an overview of the history of musical
borrowing, discussion of other twentieth-century American composers who used
quotations of native folk tunes in their piano compositions, summary of the nature of
quotation as a compositional procedure, and examination of a compositional model
applied to the music of Charles Ives by J. Peter Burkholder.
The focal point of this study, Rzewski’s four North American Ballads (1979) for
solo piano, serves as a basis for comparison with the compositional philosophy and
procedures of Ives. The investigative process applied to each of Rzewski’s Ballads
included a grouping structure analysis and Schenkerian diagram of each of the borrowed
folk tunes, as well as a systematic analysis of every instance of folk tune quotation.
These quotations were examined and categorized by location, specific motives used,
length of the quotation, range, tonality, and texture. The model applied to Rzewski’s
work was J. Peter Burkholder’s All Made o f Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses o f Musical
Borrowing (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995). Six forms of quotation, as
defined by Burkholder, were found to be used by Rzewski in the North American
Ballads: cumulative setting or pre-imitation, variations, modeling, setting an existing
tune with new accompaniment, stylistic allusion, and programmatic quotation. Other
similarities in compositional style between Ives and Rzewski included the use of style
juxtaposition, polytonal contrapuntal layering, and a thematic use of melodic quotation.
To my husband and dearest friend, Salam,
Who has, without fail, offered all the love and support I could hope to ask for,
who insisted that I never forfeit my aspirations,
and who selflessly indulged my need to spend countless hours
on this project and away from my family.
As always, you arc my inspiration and support.
I •j• I
A j j b ,< a a l l ^ 1 A -v
Uj^ Lq Cjiill
Uj dlflJ JlSj
( L^-lxU
6jAa
11
APPROVAL PAGE
This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the
Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Committee Chair
Committee Members
Date of Acceptance by Committee
Date of Final Oral Examination
111
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the following individuals at the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro for their help in the preparation of this
document: Dr. J. Kent Williams, my dissertation advisor, for his assistance in editing and
revising both the text and the analytical portions of this study; Dr. Joseph Di Piazza, my
committee chair, and committee members Dr. Paul Stewart and Dr. Andrew Willis for
their valuable suggestions and encouragement.
I would also like to thank those individuals who offered additional help with the
research or technical support of this project, including Dr. Eleanor McCrickard at the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Dr. Christopher Wilkinson at West Virginia
University; friends and colleagues at the Music Academy of North Carolina: Julie
Rosenbaum, Aurelia Hepler, and Executive Director Jane Whichard; and my husband
Salam Murtada.
IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER
I. QUOTATION AND CHARLES IVES.................................................................. I
A History of Musical Borrowing.................................................................... 3

Use of Quotation in the Piano Literature Since Ives..................................... 8
Charles Ives’ Use of Quotation..................................................................... 12
Reasons for and Effects of Quotation...........................................................19
II. QUOTATION AND FREDERIC RZEWSKI..................................................... 23
Folk Tunes and Rzewski’s North American Ballads.................................. 26
III. “DREADFUL MEMORIES’’.................................................................................33
An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting...............................................................38

Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Dreadful Memories” ...............................42
IV. “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?” ........................................................................ 47

Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Which Side Are You On?” .................... 64
V. “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE” ......................................................................... 71

Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Down By the Riverside” .........................83
VI. “WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES” .........................................................87

Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” .............. 98
VII. CONCLUSION: A COMPARISON OF IVES AND RZEWSKI...................105
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................113
Page
APPENDIX A. IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS OF AMERICAN FOLK

TUNES IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF CHARLES IVES..................118
APPENDIX B. THE SOLO PIANO MUSIC OF FREDERIC RZEWSKI..................121
APPENDIX C. LIST OF WORKS CONSTRUCTED ON AMERICAN

FOLK TUNES IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF FREDERIC
RZEWSKI............................................................................................ 122
APPENDIX D. WORDS AND MUSIC TO THE FOLK SONGS QUOTED

IN FREDERIC RZEWSKI’S NORTH AMERICAN
BALLADS........................................................................................... 123
APPENDICES E - H: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................131
APPENDIX E. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DREADFUL

MEMORIES”....................................................................................... 133
APPENDIX F. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS; “WHICH

SIDE ARE YOU ON?”....................................................................... 138
APPENDIX G. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN

BY THE RIVERSIDE”....................................................................... 150
APPENDIX H. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS:.................................158
APPENDIX I. SUMMARY OF QUOTATION TYPES USED BY

FREDERIC RZEWSKI IN THE NORTH AMERICAN
BALLADS........................................................................................... 166
VI
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure
3.1 “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune and Lyrics.......................................................... 34
3.2 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune....................... 37
3.3 Schenkerian Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune................................... 38
3.4 Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Dreadful Memories” .......................... 43
4.1 “Which Side Are You On?” Folk Tune and Lyrics............................................... 49
4.2 “Which Side Are You On?” Scale and Pitch Collections...................................... 51
4.3 “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Verse).................................... 53
4.4 “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Chorus).................................54
4.5 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Which Side Are You On?” Melody................. 55
4.6 Schenkerian Analysis of “Which Side Are You On?” Folk Tune........................ 56
4.7 “Which Side Are You On?” Motive Z .....................................................................59
4.8 Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Which Side Are You On?” ................66
5.1 “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune and Lyrics.................................................... 72
5.2 “Down By the Riverside” Melody Comparison..................................................... 74
5.3 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Original

Folk Melody...........................................................................................................76
5.4 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune in

the North American Ballads................................................................................. 77
5.5 Schenkerian Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune.............................79
5.6 Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Down By the Riverside” .................... 85
Vll
Page
6.1 “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Folk Tune and Lyrics......................................... 88
6.2 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Folk Tune
in the North American Ballads............................................................................ 91
6.3 Schenkerian Analysis of “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Folk Tune.................. 93
6.4 Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” ........100
Vlll
CHAPTER I
QUOTATION AND CHARLES IVES
For the last two centuries a chasm has existed between art music and popular or
folk music, and, in our culture especially, it is not uncommon for listeners of one type of
music to reject the other almost entirely. In early nineteenth-century America, the upper
and middle classes listened to art music primarily of the Germanic tradition, while others
absorbed the folk and dance music of the people. Exceptions to this norm were
composers who attempted to bridge the gap between art and popular music, most often
composers of popular music who ventured to write in more traditional genres. Scott
Joplin’s operas Treemonisha (1911) and A Guest o f Honor (lost) redefined his ragtime
style in a large-scale setting. George Gershwin combined jazz and classical idioms in his
Concerto in F (1925) for piano and orchestra. An American in Paris (1928), and Porgy
and Bess (1935). And well-known jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has in his later years
composed four cantatas, two ballets, an oratorio, and a mass. Today Western art music in
America comprises an interesting blend of styles. Popular musicians have continued to
venture composition in classical genres: Michael Bolton has recently turned to opera, and
Paul McCartney and Billy Joel have begun writing symphonies, to the chagrin of some
and the surprise of many. Classical performers have also turned to more popular styles;
for example, cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma has recently recorded Brazilian music, tangos, and
Appalachian bluegrass music. Serious composers of American art music have also
turned for inspiration to the melodies and styles of the folk musics of their culture.
One of the most influential of these composers was Charles Ives (1874-1954),
who incorporated quotations of hundreds of American folk tunes, patriotic songs, and
hymns into his compositions. More recently, American composer Frederic Rzewski (b.
1938) directly quotes American folk melodies, hymn tunes, and spirituals in a significant
portion of his piano music. In order to understand the reasons for and the effects of
quotation, a comparison of the use of folk music quotations in the music of Charles Ives
and Frederic Rzewski is warranted. Relevant issues include an overview of the history of
musical borrowing, a discussion of other twentieth-century American composers who
have incorporated native folk tunes into their piano compositions, a summary of the
nature of quotation as a compositional procedure, and a brief examination of a
compositional model applied to the music of Charles Ives by J. Peter Burkholder. The
term quotation, according to The New Grove Dictionary o f Music, refers to “the
incorporation of a relatively brief segment of existing music in another work, in a manner
akin to quotation in speech or literature, or a segment of existing music so incorporated in
a later work.”* While quotation may involve the use of a complete melodic phrase, in
this study the definition will be expanded to include the use of even the smallest
identifiable motives from an existing melody. The focal point of this study, Rzewski’s
four North American Ballads (1979) for solo piano, will serve as a basis for comparison
' J. Peter Burkholder, “Quotation.” The New Grove Dictionary o f Music Online, ed. Laura Macy,
http://www.grovemusic.com (accessed 18 February 2004).
with the compositional philosophy and procedures of Ives. Significant contributions to
the study of Rzewski’s North American Ballads include dissertations by Kim Hayashi
and Ronald Edwin Lewis.^ These authors describe Rzewski’s works in great detail from
a performer’s viewpoint, often including helpful narratives of all incidental musical
events, but do not focus on the methods of quotation used by the composer. This
document is the first to use a compositional model, specifically J. Peter Burkholder’s
model of quotational procedures used by Charles Ives, and apply it to these Ballads by
Frederic Rzewski. This study will culminate in a comparison between the compositional
styles and uses of quotation of these two composers.
A History of Musical Borrowing^
One could contend that the history of Western art music is in fact a history of
musical borrowing. The use of quotation may be traced back to the first surviving bodies
of notated medieval liturgical chants. In highly florid chants such as the gradual and
alleluia, melismas were borrowed from one chant and used in another. In antiphons and
hymns, existing melodies were reworked and adapted for new texts. The art of troping,
applying new words to existing melismas, grew in popularity in the ninth to thirteenth
centuries. In medieval secular music, contrafacta appeared as musicians borrowed
melodies from existing songs in an act of tribute, or in some cases, competition.
^ Kim Hayashi, “The Keyboard Music of Frederic Anthony Rzewski With Special Emphasis on
the ‘North American Ballads.’” (D.M.A. diss., University of Arizona, 1995); Ronald Edwin Lewis, “The
Solo Piano Music of Frederic Rzewski.” (D.M.A. diss., University of Oklahoma, 1992).
^ Much of the discussion of the history of musical borrowing was extracted from J. Peter
Burkholder, “Borrowing.” The New Grove Dictionary o f Music Online, ed. Laura Macy,
http://www.grovemusic.com (accessed 15 November 2002).
All major polyphonic genres to 1300, including organum, discant, and the motet,
were based on existing melodies such as medieval chant. While some existing forms
such as the polyphonic versus and conductus were exceptions, the history of early
polyphony is indebted to the use of musical borrowing as the fundamental compositional
tool. The first evidence of a coherent repertory of musical borrowing was perhaps the
Magnus liber, created in about 1163 by Leonin and later revised by Perotin, which sets
solo portions of pre-existing alleluias, responsories, and graduals in two-part polyphony.
The early motets of the thirteenth century combined traditions such as troping and the use
of a borrowed chant or secular tune in the lowest voice as well as in upper voices.
Throughout the development of early polyphony, the practice of borrowing melodies for
motet tenors was both well-established and encouraged.
In the fourteenth century, isorhythmic motets of the Ars Nova relied on the
systematic borrowing of pre-existing melodies in the tenor. Composers such as Machaut
and Vitry used melodic content borrowed from specific works with great success. This
century also saw the rise of polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary, such as Machaut’s
Messe de Notre Dame, as well as the earliest surviving instrumental pieces utilizing
borrowed material. Most of these instrumental works were intabulations of vocal music
for the keyboard, often including all or most voices of the original piece. The earliest
surviving keyboard pieces from the Robertsbridge Manuscript and the Faenza Codex
were essentially reworked pieces based on borrowed material such as Italian and French
secular songs.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, musical borrowing reached a height of
both complexity and interest. The mass cycles of the Renaissance often placed borrowed
chant tunes in the upper voice instead of the tenor voice, altering and embellishing the
melody in a form of paraphrase. Four main types of mass during the Renaissance were
the cantus-firmus or tenor mass, imitation mass, paraphrase mass, and parody mass.
Often, composers would unify mass cycles by using the same borrowed music for each
movement, even using titles that reflected the original source of the melody, such as in
DuFay’s well-known Missa Se la face ay pale (c. 1450). Composers continued to use
existing chants as the basis for motets and other sacred music, such as the Lutheran
chorale. Most chorales and psalm tunes for congregational singing were adapted from
chant melodies, secular songs, or German devotional songs, and were often arranged in
varying styles, often in polyphonic settings. Secular genres such as French chansons,
Italian frottolas, and (less often) Italian madrigals quoted text and music of earlier pieces.
In instrumental music, the quodlibet combined the melodies of several songs in humorous
fashion. Variation forms such as the passamezzo, folia, and romanesca in Spain and Italy
were often modeled on repeated harmonic progressions or bass patterns, while the
English virginal composers utilized borrowed ground-bass figures, cantus-firmus
variations, melodic variations and fantasias on popular songs.
In the Baroque era, some forms of borrowing declined in significance because of
their evocation of a dignified but archaic style. Composers favored new musical material
in the search for an individual musical voice, and many cantus firmus procedures were
abandoned. The genres of borrowing which endured during the Baroque included music
written on a standard repeated harmonic or bass pattern, variations, chorale settings of
borrowed tunes, the organ mass, and quodlibet. The folia melody remained popular, and
the chaconne and passacaglia often incorporated quotations of existing tunes.
The late eighteenth century was a time of transition, for while variations on
ostinato basses and chorales declined in popularity, composers created hundreds of sets
of melodic variations, often on borrowed themes. Mozart’s piano variations on popular
songs and arias were among his most popular works during his lifetime. Haydn arranged
many Scottish, Irish, and Welsh folk songs for voice, while paraphrasing other folk
melodies as themes in large instrumental works such as in the finale of his London
Symphony No. 104 (1795).
The growing interest in nationalism and exoticism in the nineteenth century led to
the use of borrowed folk material by many composers such as Gottschalk, MacDowell,
Glinka, and Tchaikovsky. Although variations were more often composed on original
themes, many still borrowed from other composers. In the keyboard literature, examples
include Chopin's Variations on Mozart's “La ci darem la mano” for piano and orchestra
(1827), Liszt's prelude, variations and chorale on Bach's Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
(1859), Brahms’ variations on a theme of Handel (1861), Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations
of 1823 (which include references to “Notte e giorno faticar’’ from Don Giovanni and a
waltz titled Keine Ruh bei Tag und Nacht in variation 22), not to mention numerous sets
of variations composed on a theme by Paganini. Transcripts and arrangements of
symphonies and operas also flourished for the piano, which had become the most popular
household musical instrument.
Two brief motives, B-A-C-H and the opening of the Dies irae chant, became
frequent quotations in music of the nineteenth century. J.S. Bach originally used the
B-A-C-H (B-flat, A, C, B-natural) motive in his Art o f Fugue, and after the nineteenth-
century Bach revival, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn quoted the theme,
while Schumann, Liszt, Reger, and others composed fugues on the subject. The
diabolical Dies irae sequence from the Mass for the Dead was used effectively by Berlioz
in the last movement of his Symphonie fantastique (1830), and inspired many other
composers to borrow this melody. The Dies irae appears in Franz Liszt’s Totentanz for
piano and orchestra (1849), Camille Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre (1874), and later,
Sergei Rachmaninoffs Rhapsody on a Theme o f Paganini for piano and orchestra (1934).
While nineteenth-century composers often used folk tunes as exotic or unusual
additions to a work, composers of the early twentieth-century used quotations of tonal
melodies to add a familiar element to modernist or avant-garde works, or to achieve the
affects of comfort, nostalgia, or even alienation. The interest in folk music increased
with the efforts of ethnomusicologists such as Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger, and
was used to great effect by Vaughan Williams, Kodaly, Bartok, Copland, Grainger,
Britten, Stravinsky, and of course, Charles Ives. No composer since Ives has used
quotation so extensively; Clayton Henderson cites 143 separate compositions of Ives that
contain quotations."^ Although the vast majority of Ives’ works were not for solo piano,
there are approximately thirty-five identified American folk tunes quoted in his works for
Clayton Henderson, The Charles Ives Tune Book (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1990),
189-214.
solo piano. (See Appendix A for a listing of these.) One example is the opening of the
third movement of Ives’ First Piano Sonata (1909), where a quotation from the Protestant
hymn “What a Friend We Have In Jesus” may be heard in the soprano line. Although the
intervallic structure of the melody has been slightly altered, it is still identifiable by the
listener.
Use of Quotation in the Piano Literature Since Ives
Quotations from the literature of Western art music have often inspired American
composers, especially those of the last fifty years. The music of George Crumb (b. 1929)
is well-known for its references to famous melodies. Black Angels (1970) includes
quotations from Schubert’s Death and the Maiden quartet; Ancient Voices o f Children
(1970) employs a quotation from Bach’s Bist du bei mir and a melody from Gustav
Mahler’s Der Abschied; and Voice o f the Whale (Vox Balaenae) of 1971 includes a
passage from Richard Strauss’s A/w sprach Zarathustra. In Makrokosmos 7/(1973),
Crumb quotes the Dies irae and in Makrokosmos 77/(1974), the composer ineorporates
passages of a Bach chorale.^ Composer George Rochberg (b. 1918) has also relied on
such quotations, especially in his music for solo piano. His Nach Bach (1966) is a virtual
parody of the entire Partita No. 6 in E minor for keyboard by J. S. Bach, while his
Carnival Music (1971) quotes fragments of various keyboard works by Bach and
Brahms.
^ Joan Kunselman Cordes, “A New American Development in Music: Some Characteristic

Features Extending from the Legacy of Charles Ives” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1976), 96.
Less common in the more recent literature are quotations of American tunes such
as spirituals, hymns, and old popular songs. Although there exist innumerable examples
of compositions by American composers which quote American folk tunes, very few of
these are works for solo piano. In his Folk Song Symphony (1940), composer Roy Harris
indicates in the score which particular American tunes are used, while in his overture
Johnny Comes Marching Home (1935), Harris develops that popular Civil War Song.
William Schuman’s William Billings Overture (1943) draws from the melodies of
American composer Billings, while This is Our Time (1940) uses various American folk
tunes for the introductory “Fanfares” movement. In Salvatore Martirano’s Ballad (1966),
seven popular songs are juxtaposed, including songs by Rodgers and Hart and Irving
Berlin. Other American composers since Charles Ives have quoted familiar native folk
tunes in their music for solo piano. In addition to Rzewski and Crumb, these include
Florence Price (1887-1953), George T. Walker (b. 1922), and James Drew (b. 1929),
among others. Among the most notable of these is African-American composer
Florence Price, whose piece Fantasie Negre (1929) for solo piano not only quotes the
Negro spiritual “Sinner, Please Don’t Let This Harvest Pass,” but uses it as the primary
thematic material. Linda Ruth Holzer, a specialist in the music of Price, notes that
“instead of extracting tunes and motives from the spiritual and subjecting them to
extended development and special keyboard effects. Price remains faithful to the strophic
form of the original spiritual for the phrase structure in the ‘A’ sections.”^
®Linda Ruth Holzer, “Selected Solo Piano Music of Florence B. Price (1887-1953)’’ (D.M.A. diss,
Florida State University, 1995), 42.
Although Price’s Sonata in E Minor (1932) and Dances in the Canebrakes (1953)
use tunes and dance rhythms reminiscent of Negro spirituals, all of the music is
ostensibly original, with no direct quotation. Like her contemporaries William Grant
Still, Charles Ives, George Gershwin, and Aaron Copland, she incorporated stylistic
elements of Negro folk music such as spiritual melodies, plantation dance rhythms, and
■n
gospel and jazz harmonies into Western art music.
Other composers, like Price, who have imitated the sound of folk melodies and
rhythms but who did not normally quote tunes directly, include Scott Joplin (1868-1917)
and R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943). Both incorporated Negro dance styles such as the
cakewalk and the Juba without actually borrowing pre-existing melodic material. Joplin’s
best-known cakewalk Swipesy (1900), and Something Doing (1903) both exhibit
characteristics of the dance. Each of R. Nathaniel Dett’s six suites for piano solo contain
settings of Negro dance music: Magnolia In the Bottoms (1913), Enchantment
(1922), The Cinnamon Grove (1928), Tropic Winter (1938), and Eight Bible Vignettes
o
(1943). According to Schafer and Riedel, however, ragtime composers such as Joplin
often “served as folk collectors or musicologists, collecting music in the air around them
in the black communities and organizing it into brief suites or anthologies which they
Mbid., 81.
* Eileen Southern, “Dett, R[obert] Nathaniel,” in The New Grove Dictionary o f American Music,
ed. H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan Press Limited, 1986), 1:610.
10
called piano rags.”^ One example is Joplin’s Weeping Willow (1903), which contains a
quotation of the popular black folk tune, “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.”'°
When George Crumb utilizes familiar quotations, he most often quotes from
Western art music, such as the paraphrase of Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu in his
Makrokosmos I, Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac fo r Amplified Piano (1972). In
the movement “Nightspell I” from Makrokosmos I, however, the pianist is instructed to
whistle phrases from the revival hymn “Will There be any Stars in my Crown?.’’ Crumb
says this quotation is “a remembrance of my Appalachian childhood.’’^^ Edmund Foster
Soule, in his Three American Dances (1963) and Suite fo r Piano (1980), demonstrates
the influence of folk elements by using modal harmonies, simple textures, dance rhythms,
ragtime accompaniments, blue notes and syncopated rhythms.*^ George Walker quotes
“O Bury Me Beneath the Willow’’ and “Liza in the Summer Time’’ in the First Piano
Sonata (1953), and the famous spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child’’ in
the Fourth Piano Sonata (1985). Walker also quotes two standard tunes by Duke
Fllington, “Satin Doll” and “Solitude,” in the solo piano work Guido’s HandJ^ James
Drew, in his Primero libro de referenda laberinto (“First Book of Labrinthine
®William J. Schafer and Johannes Riedel, The Art o f Ragtime: Form and Meaning o f an Original
Black American Art (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973), 5.
10
David A. Jasen and Trebor Jay Tichenor, Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History (NY: The
Seabury Press, 1978), 91.
11Quoted in Cordes, 36.
Diane Rector Baxter, “Fourteen Solo Piano Pieces of Edmund Foster Soule” (D.M.A. diss..
University of Oregon, 1985), 134.
Edwin Kevin Hampton, “George Theophilius Walker as Composer and Pianist: A Biography
and Discussion of his Stylistic Evolution as Seen in Selected Works for Solo Piano” (D.M.A. diss..
University of Maryland, 1994).
11
Narrative”) of 1970 for piano, quotes the familiar “Tea for Two” but with a dissonant
harmonization.*"^
Charles Ives’ Use of Quotation
Charles Ives was born in 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut. Although Ives was a
virtuoso organist, professionally trained in composition at Yale University under Horatio
Parker, he worked in insurance for most of his life, composing in his free time. By the
time of his death in 1954, he had received a great deal of recognition, and much of his
music had been published. Even after his death his reputation continued to grow, and by
the centenary of his birth in 1974, he was recognized worldwide as the first American
composer to create a distinctively national art music. J. Peter Burkholder notes, “His
music is marked by an integration of American and European musical traditions,
innovations in rhythm, harmony and form, and an unparalleled ability to evoke the
sounds and feelings of American life. He is regarded as the leading American composer
of art music of the twentieth century.”*^
The influence of Charles Ives on later composers cannot be overemphasized.
Many scholars believe that Ives brought the use of quotation to one of the highest levels
of sophistication in the history of Western music.*^ Examination of the ways in which
Ives used quotation is necessary in order to understand fully the use of quotation in the
Cordes, 43.
J. Peter Burkholder, James B. Sinclair and Gayle Sherwood. “Ives, Charles (Edward).” The
New Grove Dictionary o f Music Online, ed. Laura Macy, http://www.grovemusic.com (accessed 14
December 2003).
Steven D. Nehrenberg, “Three Levels of Quotation in the Music of Charles Ives” (M.A. thesis.
University of Oregon, 1992), 3.
12
works of Frederic Rzewski. Three scholars who have made significant contributions to
the study of quotation in the music of Charles Ives are J. Peter Burkholder, Clayton
Henderson, and Steven D. Nehrenberg. Burkholder’s dissertation of 1983 led the way
to other valuable books and articles by this prolific author, while generating material for
the works of later scholars such as Henderson.
In his dissertation, Burkholder defines five categories of musical quotation which
provide the basis for a comparison of the music of Charles Ives with that of Rzewski.
These five categories are modeling, paraphrase, cumulative setting, oratorical gesture,
and quodlibet or medley. Although the author defines each category clearly, there seems
to be much overlap between categories. With modeling, the new work is based (hence,
modeled) on the form of a preexisting work. For example, the same verse/refrain form
favored by Ives is found in many of the same hymns and popular songs he uses for
quotation. One of Ives’ student works, an Invention in D for keyboard (1896?), is
modeled after the Inventions of J. S. Bach, and contains a brief reference to Bach’s
Three-Part Invention in A minor.'®
In paraphrase, although the tune is not exactly quoted, it is more explicitly stated
than in modeling. Although the tune is varied, using only the melodic shape or rhythm, it
is still recognizable by the listener. The fusing of tunes, whereby a single melodic line
J. Peter Burkholder, “The Evolution of Charles Ives’s Music: Aesthetics, Quotation, Technique”
(Ph.D. diss.. University of Chicago, 1983) and All Made o f Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses o f Musical
Borrowing (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995); Clayton Henderson, The Charles Ives Tunebook
(Warren, Ml: Harmonie Park Press, 1990); and Steven D. Nehrenberg, “Three Levels of Quotation in the
Music of Charles Ives” (M.A. thesis, University of Oregon, 1992).
Burkholder, “‘Quotation’ and Emulation: Charles Ives’s Uses of His Models,” Musical
Quarterly (1985): 10.
13
contains rhythmic and melodic elements of two different melodies, is also considered
paraphrase by Burkholder. In paraphrasing, the tunes are always stated inexactly.
The cumulative use of quotation is considered to be one of the most innovative
uses of quotation by Ives,^^ even described as a “complex form virtually unique to

'70
Ives,” until now. As we shall see, Rzewski also uses this compositional procedure to
great effect in the North American Ballads. Unlike paraphrase, cumulative quotation is
“defined by the form it generates rather than by changes to an individual melodic line.”^'
Here, the tune is first only partially (and often obscurely) quoted early in the work. As it
reappears in succeeding passages, the fragments finally become longer and clearer, until
the complete tune finally emerges at the end of the work or movement. Frequently, each
repeated appearance of a quotation will be extended until the quotation evolves smoothly
from an obscure fragment to a complete melody. Burkholder says, “The techniques of
restructuring existing music on the level of the piece and the theme gave Ives practice in
the art of subtle melodic variation. He was to use this to great effect in the cumulative
settings of his Third Symphony, violin sonatas, and similar works of 1901 and later,
where the shape of a hymn or popular tune gradually becomes clearer, less altered, more
complete, and more familiar, as the movement progresses toward a full presentation of
9?
the theme at the end.” Burkholder further explains:
” Nehrenberg, 30.
Burkholder, “Quotation and Emulation,” 3.
Nehrenberg, 30.
Burkholder, “‘Quotation’ and Emulation,” 17-18.
14
This is the characteristic procedure in most movements of the violin sonatas, the
outer movements of the Third Symphony, several movements in the two piano
sonatas, and a few other works. Most of these are settings of hymns. The idea of
building up a theme out of fragments and presenting the whole theme only at the
end is a procedure which Ives may have learned from Tchaikovsky and which he
shares to some extent with Sibelius, although these composers are of course
working with original rather than with borrowed material. Setting a hymn tune in
a series of paraphrases with the simplest version appearing only at the end is
reminiscent of Bach’s chorale settings, particularly in his chorale cantatas.
Whether Ives learned the technique from studying Bach has not been
established.^^
The cumulative use of quotation dominates the early mature period of Ives.^"^ Burkholder
notes that “from 1902 on, Ives regularly substituted tune settings in cumulative form,
chiefly based on hymns for the more standard sonata, rondo, and ternary forms in his solo
chamber sonatas and symphonies.”^^
The next form of quotation defined by Burkholder is the oratorical gesture. This
involves merely quoting a brief, familiar passage for extra-musical purposes. One
example is the brief quotation of “Goodnight Ladies” at the end of the Bam Dance in
Washington’s Birthday}^
Finally, quodlibet or medley is defined as a sort of “mosaic” quotation. Either a
succession or superimposition of tunes, this is not to be confused with the fusing of two
tunes into a single melodic line as in paraphrase. Often in the music of Ives, as in the
composers before him, the quodlibet is often used for a humorous or tongue-in-cheek
effect.
Ibid., 3.
Nehrenberg, 31.
Burkholder, “Evolution,” 387.
Ibid., 410.
15
These five fundamental types of quotation (modeling, paraphrase, eumulative,
oratorical gesture, and quodlibet or medley) were developed by Burkholder in his
dissertation of 1983, and in subsequent articles such as “’Quotation’ and Emulation:
Charles Ives’s uses of His Models”^^ By 1995, with the publication of his book All Made
o f Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses o f Musical Borrowing, Burkholder further identified
and defined fourteen methods of quotation used by Ives:
1. Modeling a work or section on an existing piece, assuming its structure,

incorporating part of its melodic material, imitating its form or procedures, or
using it as a model in some other way
2. Variations on a given tune
3. Paraphrasing an existing tune to form a new melody, theme, or motive
4. Setting an existing tune with a new accompaniment
5. Cantus firmus, presenting a given tune in long notes against a more quickly
moving texture
6. Medley, stating two or more existing tunes, relatively complete, one after another
in a single movement
7. Quodlibet, combining two or more existing tunes or fragments in counterpoint or
in quick succession, most often as a joke or technical tour de force
8. Stylistic allusion, alluding not to a specific work but to a general style or type of
music
9. Transcribing a work for a new medium
10. Programmatic quotation, fulfilling an extramusical program or illustrating part of
a text
11. Cumulative setting, a complex form in which the theme, either a borrowed tune or
a melody paraphrased from one or more existing tunes is presented complete only
near the end of a movement, preceded by development of motives from the
theme, fragmentary or altered presentation of the theme, and exposition of
important countermelodies
12. Collage, in which a swirl of quoted and paraphrased tunes is added to a musical
structure based on modeling, paraphrase, cumulative setting, or a narrative
program
13. Patchwork, in which fragments of two or more tunes are stitched together,
sometimes elided through paraphrase and sometimes linked by Ives’s
interpolations
Musical Quarterly 1 \ (1985): 1-26.
16
14. Extended paraphrase, in which the melody for an entire work or section is
paraphrased from an existing tune^®
Burkholder explains that even with the delineation of such classifications,
The boundaries of these categories can of course never be perfectly fixed. Indeed,
these different methods of using existing music should not be considered to be
entirely distinct from one another; they are more like points on a continuum than
pigeonholes in a post office. They will be most useful if thought of as concepts
which mix together in Ives’s actual compositions rather than as categories with
impregnable boundaries.
Following Burkholder’s study, Steven Nehrenberg defined two forms of
construction in the music of Ives which, we shall see, find a parallel in the music of
Frederic Rzewski. The two processes of layering and style juxtaposition may be found to
some extent in every Ives composition. The composer’s use of a contrapuntal layering of
musical lines is the principal means by which he incorporates quoted tunes. Each
musical line is contrasted through melody, rhythm, texture, or a combination of these,
and each line may occupy a unique speed, key, or range. Nehrenberg notes that since
“quotation in Ives may occupy a particular layer of the music, the prominence of this
’^0
layer then will determine the prominence of the quotation.” Philip Lambert observes
that in his later years Ives had little concern for the vertical clashes which resulted from
this sort of stratification, and that the composer chose to allow for these harmonic clashes
rather than limiting the individual nature of each melodic line.^^ The opening of Ives’
Burkholder, All Made o f Tunes, 3-4.

Burkholder, “Quotation and Emulation, 3.
Nehrenberg, 35.
Philip Lambert, “Ives and Counterpoint,” American Music 2 (Summer 1991): 119.
17
Second Piano Sonata “Concord, Mass., 1840-1860” is one example of the composer’s
use of quotation as well as that of layering.
Clayton Henderson defines two hierarchies of quotation in the music of Ives,
incidental and thematic use of melody. In the incidental class of quotation, the
appearance of a brief fragment of a melody is relatively unimportant to the structure or
meaning of a piece. In the thematic class, the quotation itself is the principal melodic
structure in a section or movement of the work. Steven Nehrenberg adds a third level of
quotation to Henderson’s model, the subordinate class, which falls in between the other
two. Subordinate quotations are repeated more often than incidental quotations, but do
not serve as the principal melodic entity as in the thematic class.
Style juxtaposition, another compositional characteristic, accounts for some of the
distinguishing clashes heard in Ives’ music. The music of Ives may leap from tonality or
modality to atonality, or the composer may interrupt a highly dissonant passage with one
of simple harmony (as in that of a folk tune). The result of both these processes of
layering and style juxtaposition is that of contrasting layers, contrasting sections, and
dramatic tension. Burkholder notes that Ives’ music “is based on contrasting styles as
surely as other music depends for its form and expression on contrasts between themes,
rhythmic patterns or keys.’’^^
Nehrenberg, 43-46.
18
Reasons for and Effects of Quotation
The reasons why composers such as Ives and Rzewski turn to familiar folk tunes
for quotations have fascinated scholars for years. While some assert that Ives may have
felt that his audience needed a tangible pathway to his otherwise rather inaccessible style
of m u sic,o th e rs feel that recognition of the quoted source does not make the
-1C
composer’s music any more comprehensible. Christopher Ballantine aptly observes
that there exists a significant difference between using quoted material which originally
involves words and that which does not. It may be true that if a familiar tune contains
familiar lyrics, the connotation of the words themselves affects the listener more strongly
than the melody. Ballantine notes that
This technique was very frequently used by Bach, when he incorporated well-
known Lutheran chorale melodies in his own compositions. The tunes would
appear without words, or with a different text, but Bach could depend on his
listeners to ‘associate’ the familiar words and thus discover a deeper significance
in the work. If a listener does know the absent text of a quoted hymn tune or
other word-associated melody, then the significance can be very rich indeed.
Regardless of the tune quoted, whether the text is relevant to the communicative
intent of the composer, the simple fact that these melodies are American gives them an
expressive weight. For as Ballantine asserts, no matter how abstract the piece.
Nehrenberg, 6.
Christopher Ballantine, “Charles Ives and the Meaning o f Quotation in Music” Musical
Quarterly {April 1979): 171.
Ibid., 173.
19
One has to insist that if the quotations are American (as they often are) some
indeterminate connotation of American experience is intended or is at any rate
inescapable. In many works . . . what is being symbolized seems to have much to
do with the kaleidoscopic vigor of American life; with a notion that this vigor has
its roots in the values of popular life (its communality, its fervor, its lack of
sophistication, its authenticity); with an intuition that this life involves
contradictions which, though at times tending towards chaos, must be affirmed
-3 0
before they can be transcended.
The nature of folk tunes, music of the people, is that of simplicity and sincerity. This
may have been what attracted Ives and Rzewski to this music. Joan Cordes notes that in
the simple tunes of American folk art prevalent in Ives’ works.
The quality that attracts Ives to various pieces for inspiration is what he considers
a sincerity and genuineness. Ives refers to this genuine aspect when he speaks of
the third movement of his Second Orchestra Set which is based on the gospel
hymn Tn the Sweet Bye and Bye.’ Of this hymn Ives says, ‘It wasn’t a tune
written to be sold, or written by a professor of music—but by a man who was but
. . . , 39
giving out an experience.
A compositional procedure used by Ives is that of repetition. The more often a
listener hears a folk tune, or even a fragment of the melody, the more the tune and the
words associated with it become memorable, possibly creating a new and immediately
accessible musical language. Nachum Schoffman, in a chapter entitled “Determinacy as
a Result of Repetition,” explains this phenomenon. Although he describes it in terms of
chords, the effect of a repeated tonal melody could certainly be substituted.
Ballantine, 176 (emphasis in the original).

Quoted in Cordes, 64-65.
20
Advertisers and propagandists know that anything at all, no matter how arbitrary
or meaningless, will come to be perceived as acceptable and reasonable if it is
only repeated often enough and insistently enough. This principle is also
applicable to groups of chords. The repetition of chords can itself provide an
element of determinacy, even though the chords themselves may not warrant it.
In traditional functional harmony, groups of chords are repeated over and over,
since the same functions recur frequently.
Only when a group of chords is not immediately intelligible in functional terms,

does the effect of its repetition influence its degree of determinacy. The
continuum of changing perception here is from functionality to symmetry. The
less the chords are functional, the more the symmetry of their repetitions lends
them to determinacy.'^'^
Ives’ extensive use of borrowed material has on occasion elicited criticism from
other composers. Elliott Carter once said, “It is to me disappointing that Ives too
frequently was unable and unwilling to invent musical material that expressed his own
vision authentically, instead of relying on the material of others.”'*' But George
Roehberg said of Ives,
All acts of renewal through uses of the past renew both that past drawn upon and
that present in which the act occurs. Far from being acts of weakness or signs of
the depletion of creative energy, they reveal a profound wisdom about the
paradox of time, which does not consume itself and its products as if it were fire,
but gathers up into itself everything which has occurred in it, preserving
everything as the individual mind preserves its individual memories. The myth is
more important than the fact.'*^
Throughout history, musical borrowing has served as one of the most essential
compositional tools, and in the twentieth century, Charles Ives brought the use of
Nachum Schoffman, From Chords to Simultaneities - Chordal Indeterminacy and the Failure
ofSerialism. (NY: Greenwood Press, 1990), 49.
Vivian Perlis, ed., Charles Ives Remembered; An Oral History. (New Haven and London,
1974), 145.
George Roehberg, “Reflections on the Renewal of Music,” Current Musicology X lll (1972),
76.
21
quotation to a level of ingenuity that influenced countless composers after him, including
Frederic Rzewski. As Roehberg said, “Culture, like time, its guardian, proceeds by slow
accretion and eventually absorbs everything of value.”'^^
Ibid., 78.
22
CHAPTER II
QUOTATION AND FREDERIC RZEWSKI
Born in 1938 in Westfield, Massachusetts, Frederic Rzewski earned music
degrees from Harvard and Princeton. After studying composition, counterpoint, and
orchestration in the United States with Randall Thompson, Walter Piston, Roger
Sessions, and Milton Babbitt, he traveled to Europe to continue his education. Under a
Fulbright grant he studied for two years in Italy, taking a few lessons with Luigi
Dallapiccola, after which he continued his studies abroad on a Ford Foundation grant in
Berlin (where he took part in the first performances of Stockhausen’s KlavierstUck X in
1961). After settling in Rome, Rzewski began commuting to the Royal Conservatory in
Liege, Belgium, at the invitation of Henri Pousseur, to teach composition. At that time
he also founded the influential live electronic ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva (MEY)
in Italy. Rzewski has taught at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of
Cincinnati, the State University of New York at Buffalo, California Institute of the Arts,
Hochschille der KUnste in West Berlin, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the
Netherlands. He currently teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory at Liege,
Belgium.
Rzewski’s piano music represents an exciting blend of styles. Embracing a
technique he refers to as “human realism,’’ this composer combines American folk songs,
jazz and blues, improvisation, and contemporary Western art music with strong
23
philosophical gestures. Pianist David Burge notes, “Rzewski’s music is bold and
confrontational, just like his political thinking.”'*'^ Rzewski was highly influenced by the
composers of the Second Viennese School, although he later abandoned serialism in
favor of other compositional techniques. A child prodigy and virtuosic pianist, Rzewski
was also a master of improvisation in many styles. A champion of spontaneous
performance, he often allows for improvisation in his works for solo piano. The
extensive use of counterpoint is also characteristic of his works, as is quasi-minimalistic
writing. A true eclectic, Rzewski manages to combine a myriad of techniques, styles, and
sounds within each of his pieces.
To understand the music of this composer thoroughly, one must strive to
understand his philosophical and political beliefs. Rzewski studied philosophy
extensively at Harvard and has been a self-proclaimed Marxist throughout his life. His
piano works often show the influence of political thought, either indirectly or through a
program, with a special emphasis on the needs of the common people and their fight for
social change. Themes that often appear in Rzewski’s works include the need for
revolution, poor working conditions of laborers, poor living conditions of the
impoverished or imprisoned, conflict between the economic classes, and the need for
people to join together for a common cause."^^ These piano works are vigorous and
energizing, with a tendency to incite emotion or drive to action.
David Burge, Twentieth-Century Piano Music, (NY: Schirmer Books, 1990), 234.
Christian Asplund, “Frederic Rzewski and Spontaneous Political Music, ” Perspectives o f New
Music 33 (1995): 427-428.
24
In that the solo piano music of Frederic Rzewski is closely comparable to that of
Charles Ives in its extensive use of quotation and similar compositional procedures, the
influence of Ives on Rzewski cannot be underestimated. Like Ives, who drew from
hundreds of American patriotic tunes, popular songs, hymns, college songs, and popular
instrumental tunes, Rzewski tends to choose melodies which reveal an American
heritage. The works which quote American tunes are the Variations on "No Place to go
but Around" (1974) the North American Ballads (1979), the piano concerto Long Time
Man (1980), and the Piano Sonata (1991). Rzewski’s best-known and perhaps most
masterfully crafted work, the Variations on “jEl Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido! ”
(“The People United Will Never Be Defeated!”) of 1975, is based on a popular Chilean
protest song. This immense set of thirty-six variations takes almost an hour to perform
and may be compared in scope, structure, and difficulty to the Goldberg Variations of
J.S. Bach or to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations for solo piano. Since the work is not
based on American folk songs, it is not relevant to this study.
The piano concerto Long Time Man is based on a folk song recorded by Pete
Seeger, “It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad,” while the Piano Sonata contains at least
seven popular American tunes. Of the sonata, Joshua Kosman observes that
The central movement consists of a haunting, somewhat diffuse fantasy on

“Taps”; the finale is an antic group of variations on “L’Homme Arme,” the
popular 14th-century French song to which Renaissance composers turned for
source material for two centuries. But the sonata’s center of gravity is the first
movement, a densely packed free-for-all in which Rzewski throws together six
incongruous themes—“Ring Around the Rosy,” “Santa Claus is Coming to
Town,” “L’Homme Arme” again, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” John
25
Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” and “Three Blind Mice”—and lets them flail
away at one another.'^^
Rzewski’s main publisher is Zen-On, based in Tokyo. Unfortunately, very few of his
piano works are in print, including the North American Ballads, t h e focus of this
project. In order to fully understand and appreciate the analyses and discussions
presented in subsequent chapters of this document, the reader will want to obtain a copy
of the score.
Folk Tunes and Rzewski’s North American Ballads
Each of the folk tunes used by Rzewski in the North American Ballads is a protest
song regarding work or living conditions of laborers in the American South. “Dreadful
Memories,” sung by Aunt Molly Jackson at the time of the Kentucky coal mine strikes in
1931, exposed the horror of family poverty and starvation during the Great Depression.
“Which Side Are you On?,” originally a Baptist hymn called “Lay the Lily Low,” was
also popular during the Depression. The words were composed in 1931 by Florence
Reece, whose father was the organizer for the United Mine Workers of America in
Harlan County, Kentucky. Reece wrote the song after her home was raided by company
thugs."^^ The traditional black American spiritual “Down by the Riverside” (also known
as “Ain’t Gwine Study War no More”) was fitted with new words during the Vietnam
Joshua Kosman, “Improvising With a Pencil” Piano & Keyboard (Mar./Apr. 1993): 36.
Ibid., 34.
Interestingly, Charles Ives also wrote protest pieces for the piano, including the 1908 study The
Anti-Abolitionist Riots.
Alan Lomax, Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Hard Hitting Songs fo r Hard-Hit People (NY:
Oak Publications, 1967), 176.
26
War in the spirit of nuclear protest demonstrations and anti-war sentiment. Finally, in the
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, workers in American textile mills were
primarily children under the age of eleven and women. The difficult work and long
seventy-five-hour weeks resulted in an abundance of protest songs such as the
“Winnsboro Cotton Mill B l u e s . T h i s traditional blues song decries the poor working
conditions of laborers in a textile mill in Winnsboro, North Carolina in the 1930s.
Each of the North American Ballads is named for the song on which it is based.
In this set of pieces, polytonal and highly dissonant sections alternate with simple and
straightforward tonal or modal passages. In two of the North American Ballads,
“Dreadful Memories” and “Down By the Riverside,” Rzewski states the complete tune at
the beginning of the piece before fragmenting the themes and weaving them into more
dissonant, complex counterpoint. (The lyrics and melodies of the original folk songs may
be found in Appendix D. Quotation in each movement of the North American Ballads is
discussed in subsequent chapters.) The melodies of both of these pieces are first
presented in a clearly tonal and homophonic setting with a swung eighth-note
accompaniment figure, before the tune is fragmented, developed, and even liquidated
throughout the movement.
Unlike “Dreadful Memories” and “Down By the Riverside,” the other two
movements, “Which Side Are You On?” and the well-known “Winnsboro Cotton Mill
Blues,” do not state the complete melody at the beginning. Rather, Rzewski teases the
listener with fragments of the melody until its appearance in full, at or near the end of the
50
James F. Leisy, The Folk Song Abecedary (NY; Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1966), 370.
27
piece. In the opening of “Which Side Are You On?,” polytonal fragments from the tune
are immediately treated eontrapuntally, almost as if the piece began with a development.
Many authors have commented on Rzewski’s almost Bachian reliance on polyphony.
Bell and Olmstead speak of the composer’s “motivic obsession” in the Ballads and
suggest that “almost any page of these pieces shows a carefully planned counterpoint and
an almost Beethovian sense of motivic concentration.”^^ Here, Rzewski has enticed the
listener throughout the piece with small fragments of the melody, saving a complete
statement of the tune for the very end.
“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” begins with a mechanical half-step ostinato,
mimicking the din of the machines in the textile mills. As fragments of the melody
slowly emerge from this cacophonous accompaniment, a listener can almost hear the
voices of the workers rising over the noise of the machinery. Throughout the piece, the
composer presents the melody only in the form of a fragment or variation. Near the end
of the work, the first stanza of the song is finally presented in its full form, and later
appears in entirety.
Rzewski expressed his interest in Ives’ compositional style in an interview
conducted shortly after composing the North American Ballads. He said.
The basic improvisational technique is one that Ives seems to have worked a great
deal with, which is to take well-known traditional songs, chop them up into little
pieces and to let bits of them be heard in various tonalities. It’s a very interesting
thing that Ives does, which seems to be very relevant to today, somehow. It’s a
technique which 1 don’t completely understand, but I’m interested in it. For some
reason, a traditional tune like that can be dealt with in a way which, say, a 12-tone
Larry Bell and Andrea Olmstead, “Musica-Reservata in Frederic Rzewski’s ‘North American
Ballads,”’ Musical Quarterly 72 (1986); 450.
28
row cannot. Even if you don’t know the tune, if it comes from a traditional
context, it’s like an old friend, a familiar face, it has a kind of timeless quality.
You can hear a little bit of it, the beginning or the end, and you recognize it. It
has strong identity which a 12-tone row does not have. Bergson, the Freneh
philosopher, pointed out that melodies are like faees. You can hear just a bit of
them, and if you know the tune you recognize it, just as you recognize a face.
And therefore, he says, melodies exist outside of time. This timeless quality
makes it possible to subject the melody to a variety of operations, sometimes
some extremely distorting operations, still maintaining the identity of the original
melody.^^
This fundamental belief of Rzewski is well demonstrated in the North American Ballads:
when using tonal material such as a folk melody, a composer may subject it to extreme
degrees of fragmentation and layering without destroying its identity or effeetiveness.^^
In addition to the composer’s preoccupation with contrapuntal layering of folk
tune fragments, all four of the North American Ballads are united by their virtuosie yet
pianistic writing style. Frederic Rzewski is a gifted pianist, and his penchant for
improvisation may be found in his piano musie. Joshua Kosman notes,
He’s a pianist of remarkable virtuosity, combining formidable technique, a

commanding tone, and pinpoint textural clarity. He improvises at the keyboard
with uncommon fluency - pursuing simple material through a dizzying welter of
key changes, thematic development, and ornamentation - and he spins those
improvisations into pyrotechnic pieces, often extravagant sets of variations based
on straightforward popular themes.^"^
Although extemporaneous performance is a fundamental element in Rzewski’s
piano music, it would be a mistake to assume that these pieces are merely written-out
improvisations. Rzewski says.
Lewis, 67.
” Ibid.
Kosman, 30.
29
Working in improvisation over the course of 20 years or so made it possible for
me to find ways of composing that would not have been open to me had I spent
the time in front of manuscript paper. In the late 60s, we had a somewhat
simplistic idea that improvisation is nothing more than composition in real time.
Now I hold a quite different view and I think, in fact, these two activities are
completely separate and involve different types of memory. When composing,
the important thing is to transfer impulses from short- to long-term memory, so
you can hang on to something long enough to write it down. It’s like
remembering your dreams, but in improvisation I think the situation is exactly the
opposite. You try to forget what just happened so that you can move on to
something new. It’s like crossing the street in heavy traffic - you can’t get
bogged down in what just happened or else you get killed. You need to be
constantly on the move and open to what’s new. ^
In two of the movements, “Which Side Are You On?’’ and “Down By the Riverside,” the
composer offers opportunities for free improvisation. This freedom, combined with the
use of American folk tunes, adds to the popular appeal of these pieces. Ursula Oppens,
who premiered the composer’s monumental The People United Will Never Be Defeated,
said, “Rzewski’s most popular pieces are the North American Ballads, and I think those
are going to enter the repertoire, to the point where in every school there typically will be
a pianist working on them.”^^ To gain a better understanding of the composer’s use of
quotation in these appealing pieces, each of the Ballads must be examined and discussed
in detail.
Although Charles Ives and Frederic Rzewski are composers of two different
generations, backgrounds, and styles, many parallels may be drawn between their
compositional procedures. Like Rzewski, Ives’ quotations “are extraordinary, but they
Philip Clark, “Manufacturing Dissent (Interview with Frederic Rzewski),” The Wire 220 (June
2002): 32.
Ibid., 37.
30
are not extraneous: they are part of the music’s very b a s i s . E a c h of Rzewski’s North
American Ballads is named after a specific American folk tune, and that melody is the
very foundation upon which each piece is based. Although Ives more often incorporates
a quote into a more abstract work, the importance of the quoted material remains the
same. Burkholder believes that
Excepting purely programmatic references, which are fairly uncommon, Ives

never applies his ‘quotations’ to the surface of his music like icing on a cake.
Rather, his original musical ideas, and often the forms his music takes, both grow
organically out of the way he uses his sources. Thus, the relationship between the
‘quotation’ and the context is, by and large, exactly backwards from what seems
at first to be the case: it is the quotation, in the sense that it represents the model
Ives uses as a starting point, which has priority over the surrounding musical
material.^^
Christian Asplund’s summary of Rzewski’s style is apt. He says, “The blend of
logical thought and spontaneity parallels other blends of opposites in the work of Frederic
Rzewski: unity and individuality, freedom and responsibility, peace and conflict,
pessimism and optimism, idealism and realism, ethnicity and international fraternity,
dialectic materialism and spirituality.”^^ But it is this blend of American ethnicity with
both Romantic and contemporary piano writing which gives Rzewski his unique sound
and sense of expression, and which puts him on a level comparable to that of Charles
Ives. With its substantial quoted material and gritty, earthy style, Rzewski’s music seems
to be a music for the people, characterized by a combination of many different colors,
textures, and layers of sound. Pianist David Burge says, “With his music, one feels one is
Burkholder, “‘Quotation’ and Emulation,” 25-26.

Ibid., 19.
59
Asplund, 434.
31
dealing with a composer who has come to terms with a century of musical, philosophical,
and esthetic decisions by several generations of composers, each affected by individual
personalities, national prejudices, and musical heritage.”^” Rzewski himself said that
“Even if you don’t know the tune, if it comes from a traditional context, it’s like an old
friend, a familiar face, it has a kind of timeless q u a l i t y . T h i s may account for the sense
of universality, agelessness, and American culture in the music of Frederic Rzewski.
“ Burge, 232.
Tom Johnson, “Rzewski Talks,” Village Voice 3 (Sept. 1979): 72.
32
CHAPTER III
“DREADFUL MEMORIES”
As in all of the North American Ballads, the first piece is based on a protest song,
regarding the living conditions of laborers in the American South. “Dreadful Memories”
was sung by midwife and songwriter Aunt Molly Jackson at the time of the Kentucky
coal mine strikes in 1931, during which she witnessed the death by starvation of many
children of coal miners. The song was modeled after the Protestant hymn “Precious
Memories,” and sought to expose the horror of family poverty and starvation during the
Great Depression. Aunt Molly Jackson recounted.
In 19 and 31 the Kentucky coal miners was asked to dig coal for 33 cents a ton
and they had to pay the company for the carbide to make a light... and they had to
pay for the picks and augers to be sharpened... and each man paid two dollars a
month for the company doctor even if he did not have to call the doctor once...
and after the miners were blacklisted for joining the union... the company doctor
refused to come to any of the coal miners’ families unless he was paid in advance.
So 1 had to nurse all the little children till the last breath left them, and all the light
1 had was a string in a can lid with a little bacon grease in it... thirty-seven babies
died in my arms... they was mortified inside.^^
An interesting aesthetic theory that Rzewski has investigated in his music is the
concept of alienation, called Verfremdung by Bertholt Brecht (1898-1956), a German
playwright. Through the process of alienation the composer distances the listener from
the work so that he or she can listen to it objectively. Ronald Edwin Lewis notes.
® Lewis, 69.
® Glaser, 96.
33
“Rzewski finds this concept present in much folk music. He believes that it is not
unusual to find a ballad or folk song dealing with some sad or tragic subject that
nevertheless has a cheerful melody. The music and the text are somewhat
contradictory.”®"^ “Dreadful Memories” is a good example of this contradiction which
exists between the music and its lyrics. (See Figure 3.1 below.)
Figure 3.1: “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune and Lyrics
W-- w
Dreadful memories! How they linger.
I !#=
How they pain my precious soul!
V—
p ? ......... i- 9 0 •
--------•
Little children, sick and hungry,
I Sick and hungry, weak and cold.
64
Lewis, 68.
34
The subsequent verses of this song are as follows:
Little children, cold and hungry

Without any food at all to eat.
They had no clothes to put on their bodies,
They had no shoes to put on their feet.
Dreadful memories! How they linger.

How they fill my heart with pain.
Oh, how hard I’ve tried to forget them.
But I find it all in vain.
I can’t forget them little babies.

With golden hair as soft as silk.
Slowly dying from starvation.
Their parents could not give them milk.
I can’t forget them coal miners’ children

That starved to death for want of milk.
While the coal operators and their wives and their children
Were all dressed in jewels and silk.
Dreadful memories! How they haunt me

As the lonely moments fly.
Oh, how them little babies suffered!
I saw them starve to death and die.^^
A different verse is supplied by Bell and Olmstead:
Hungry fathers, wearied mothers

Living in these dreadful shacks
With no clothing on their backs.^®
The disparity between the families of unemployed coal miners and those of the
wealthy company operators appealed to Rzewski, who often chooses very political
themes in his compositions. He is a self-proclaimed Marxist, which would indicate that
Lewis, 69-70.
“ Bell and Olmstead, 452.
35
in essence he believes in the theory and practice of socialism, including the labor theory
of value, dialectical materialism, and an eventual classless society. The composer’s
philosophy of a society where there exists no private property or class distinction is
evident in three of the North American Ballads (“Dreadful Memories,” “Which Side Are
You On?” and “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”) where the fundamental political theme is
the disproportion between the rich and poor, or those who “have” and those who “have
not.”
To fully understand the composer’s use of quotation in his piece “Dreadful
Memories,” a brief analysis of the melody is necessary. This melody that Rzewski has
chosen is simple in terms of its harmony, rhythm, and four-measure phrasing, which
makes it easily recognizable and memorable to the listener. A simple and tuneful
pentatonic melody in the major mode, “Dreadful Memories” maintains a narrow range
spanning the interval of a sixth. The initial motive x is four notes long, ascending from 5
to 1, with the omission of a leading tone (see Figure 3.1). The statement that follows, x ’,
is the inversion of x , now descending from 1 to S. These two short motives, each a
measure in length, are followed by the y group which is two measures long. The sentence
structure expressed in this first phrase follows the ratio of 1 4-1 -i- 2 measures, and ends
with a half cadence. The consequent phrase of the melody repeats the x and x ’ motives,
followed by y ’, and ends with an authentic cadence. The entire m elody is a parallel
period comprised of two symmetrical four-measure phrases. Figure 3.2 shows a grouping
structure analysis of this melody.
36
Figure 3.2: Grouping Structure Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune
mm. 1 4
I V
mm. 5 8
I I
As illustrated in the Schenkerian graph in Figure 3.3, this melody is essentially an
arpeggiated ascent from 5 up to 3 in the first phrase, ending on 2 of the interrupted
fundamental line. The second phrase follows the same structure, but resolves 2 to 1,
completing the Urlinie from % - 2 - \ . This melody is primarily an arpeggiated tonic
triad followed by a stepwise descent to the tonic pitch, decorated by arpeggiations and
non-chord tones. The simple harmonic structure is indicative of the folk tune style,
including only tonic and dominant harmonies with transient implied subdominant
harmonies.
37
Figure 3.3: Schenkerian Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune
mm. 1 4
I V I
mm. 5
An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting
The first of the North American Ballads is 85 measures long, the shortest and
simplest of the set. The opening is marked “steady swinging pace; afterwards generally
flexible tempi throughout” and “legatissimo; with abundant pedal.” The composer’s
indication of flexible tempi, combined with the many tempo changes in this piece.
38
suggest an improvisatory quality not unlike that of grassroots folk music in the United
States. The piece opens with three complete statements of the tune in At major, presented
in a clearly tonal and homophonic setting with a simple swung eighth-note
accompaniment figure. The first statement of the melody (mm. 1-8) is exact, with both
melody and accompaniment in a soprano register on the keyboard. The piece is notated
in 4/4, and although the right hand melody clearly conforms to this meter, much of the
left hand sounds in 6/8 because of the composer’s use of tenuto markings in the opening.
With generous pedal, these gently accented notes in the alto voice ring like bells, adding
to the dolce character of the opening - a sweetness that is ironic considering the message
of the original folk tune. The second statement of the melody (mm. 8-16) is varied only
slightly, with an anacrusis before the x motive and occasional repeated notes, perhaps
suggesting different lyrics in the second verse. The melody moves to the bass register
while the right hand crosses over the left, as if the second verse were sung by a different
person. In the third full statement of the melody (mm. 16-24), the tune is placed in an
inner voice in the right hand, while the soprano presents a descant derived from the
original melody. The texture and harmonies are fuller, as if sung by a full chorus, with
occasional blues-like grace notes and a return to the 6/8 feel in the accompaniment.
Beginning in measure 25, Rzewski begins the process of fragmentation and
contrapuntal layering of the tune. As Kyle Gann observes, “In Dreadful Memories
Rzewski’s accompaniment offsets the tune’s squareness with delicate naturalness, before
splintering the theme into dozens of polytonal shards, shattering the idyllic calm.”®^ The
Kyle Gann, Notes for Figure 88. Performed by Kathleen Supove. CRI CD 653, 1993.
39
A \>major tonality is abandoned, and in mm. 25-26 portions of the y motive are
reharmonized and treated imitatively, almost as in the stretto section of a fugue. The
composer’s indication to perform this section “hesitantly” implies the sense of being lost,
wandering from melodic fragment to fragment, and from tonality to tonality. From mm.
25-34 the composer quotes each fragment of the tune (jc, x \ y, y ’) in a total of ten
different tonalities: C, Dt, D, E, F, G!>, G, A\>, A, B. With the exception of two unused
tonalities (Et and Bt), Rzewski uses every major key around the circle of fifths in varying
order. Harmonically, the composer abandons the simple triadic style of the opening, and
shifts to a more dissonant harmonic language including the use of the tritone, minor
seconds and ninths, and sevenths. The composer is extremely economical in his use of
material, for within this polytonal juxtaposition of folk tune fragments he uses almost no
other pitches.
The next section of this piece, mm. 35-40, sees a return to Al^ major, and a textural
change to a pointillistic, repeated-note figuration where the theme is broken between the
hands. This new texture is suddenly reminiscent of banjo music, such as that imitated in
La Bamboula by American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869).^^ This
tongue-in-cheek treatment of the melody incorporates chromatic blue notes in the x ’
motive, and a change of rhythm. Although there is no direct quotation of the tune in mm.
41-44, the E m inor m elody is derived from the folk tune, and accom panied by a tremolo
on a G major triad in 12/8 meter.
Hayashi, 98.
40
In mm. 45-46 the y and y ’ groups are quoted in three voices simultaneously, first
in the left hand and then the right. These dissonant chords of tritones and seconds quote
the melody (first on C, Bl>, and E, and then on Al>, D, and C with blues inflections), while
accompanied by a sixteenth-note figuration derived from the motive y. Because the
composer utilizes fragments of the folk tune in both the melodies and in diminution as
part of the accompanimental arpeggios, the result is both a melody accompanied by a
sweeping harmonic figuration, and a layered contrapuntal technique. Additional
quotations of x and x ’ in augmentation are followed by a return to a colorful and chaotic-
sounding polyphonic layering in mm. 49-65. In these seventeen measures Rzewski
quotes the folk tune no fewer than 43 times, in each of the twelve diatonic keys. With
Rzewski, the effect of this stretto technique is often one of rich impulse and wild
invention. Interesting rhythmic and metrical challenges arise in mm. 57-60 where the
meter quickly shifts from 10/16 to 11/16 to 12/16 with difficult cross-rhythms between
the hands. A brief segment of the repeated-note banjo texture beginning in mm. 66 is
followed by a transitional passage which summarizes or pulls together many of the
techniques used throughout the movement, up to mm. 76.^^ A final return to the key
signature of Al^ major, marked “Something like a Lullaby” begins in mm. 77 and
continues to the end. A prevailing tonality of B> major gives way to Bl in the final two
measures of this eerie berceuse, fading “to silence,” conceivably written to memorialize
the children of those 1930s coal mining families.
® Rzewski used this sort of summarizing of compositional and technical devices in his 36
variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! In this work, every sixth variation is a
recapitulation of the previous five.
41
Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Dreadful Memories”
A complete analysis of each quotation in this work may be found in Appendix E.
Excluding the three full statements of the folk tune at the beginning of this piece, the
composer quotes fragments of the original melody no less than 88 times. Although a
motive is occasionally shortened, Rzewski prefers to use complete fragments of the x and
x ’ motives (four notes each) and of the y and y ’ motives (seven notes each). Because the
x: motive is quoted at least 21 times, and x ’ 20 times, there exists a balance of proportion
between appearances of the ascending first motive and its ensuing inversion. The group y
is quoted most often in this piece, 31 times. The composer chooses to use y, the
antecedent ending of the first phrase, more often than the consequent y ’ which resolves
the parallel period, and which is quoted only 15 times. That there exist 41 total
statements of x: and 46 total statements of y suggests that Rzewski sought to balance the
appearance of each folk tune fragment.
“Dreadful Memories” alternates between tonal sections in A\> major and polytonal
sections of folk tune fragments. The vast majority of quotations occurs in contrapuntal
settings, 71 out of 87 times, and the composer prefers to quote the tune in the soprano or
treble inner voice. Occasionally when the quotation is in the bass voice it is treated in
augmentation, such as in mm. 61-64 and 70-71. Each quotation has its own tonality, and
interestingly, the com poser uses every m ajor key around the circle o f fifths in these
polyphonic sections.
In the last section, mm. 77-85, the only complete quote is a metrically-altered y
group in mm. 78. The composer has liquidated the tune so that all that remains is the last
42
two notes of the melody, a sigh motive, stated in the soprano voice until the end, with an
accompaniment derived from the y motive. The effect is that of hesitant, wandering
melodic fragments that cannot seem to find their source.
Figure 3.4 shows the distribution of tonalities used in “Dreadful Memories.”
Although Rzewski favors the key of A\>, the overall tonality of the piece, and Dl>, its
subdominant, all tonalities are used, as shown in the table below.
Figure 3.4: Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Dreadful Memories”
Tonality Number of Percent of

Occurrences Total
C 7 8
G 8 9
D 8 9
A 9 10
E 9 10
B 4 5
FH/Gb 8 9
a /u 10 11
A\> 10 11
B> 5 6
B\> 4 5
F 6 7
Totals: 88 100%
Several compositional procedures also used by Ives are apparent in this piece.
First and foremost is the use of layering, as defined by Nehrenberg. The author says.
43
One of the principal means of assembling the various types of melodic and
accompanimental lines in the music of Ives is the use of layering. This layering
of the musical lines is achieved by contrasting each line from the others. This
contrast is accomplished through rhythmic, harmonic, or textural means or
through a combination of these modes. Each line may move at different speeds,
be in different keys, or occupy a particularly high or low range.’”
For Rzewski, this layering is achieved by all three of these means: textural,
rhythmic, and harmonic. The folk tune “Dreadful Memories” is presented in a variety of
textures, from simple melody and accompaniment at the beginning, to intense
contrapuntal sections, to pointillistic repeated-note textures. Within the contrapuntal
settings, both the rhythm and the tonality of the quotations are altered and layered in
different ranges of the keyboard.
Style juxtaposition, used to great effect in Ives, is also evident in this work. Both
Ives and Rzewski often contrast a highly dissonant passage with one of simple harmony,
often interrupting one style with another. Burkholder says of Ives, “The shocking
contrast between styles... is not included merely for textural reasons but serves as a basic
71
element in the structure of the music,” and Ives’ “process of building form through
contrasts works as well as... interval and motivic based techniques - perhaps even better,
because the overall formal procedures are simpler and often easier to hear.”’^ The use of
style juxtaposition to delineate form is apparent in “Dreadful Memories,” which may be
categorized as the second of fourteen types of quotation outlined by Burkholder:
variations on a given tune’^. This first piece of the North American Ballads is clearly
Nehrenberg, 35.
Burkholder diss., 561.
Ibid., 564.
Burkholder, All Made o f Tunes, 3-4.
44
sectional, marked by abrupt textural changes which create an overall formal structure of a
theme with six variations. Rzewski interrupts the opening statement of the melody in a
simple homophonic setting, with the first dissonant and polytonal variation in mm. 25.
The next textural change in mm. 35 marks the banjo-like cakewalk variation, with other
variations beginning in mm. 41, 52, 66, and 77. For Rzewski, variations are delineated
by tempo and key changes, as well as textural shifts. Lewis speaks of the composer’s
favorite compositional device: “He favored contrasting periods of intense, sometimes
violent activity containing a great deal of varied material... with sections that are
basically static. Rzewski refers to this contrasting type of writing as ‘war and peace.
While the procedure of variation is most apparent in this work, other methods of
quotation used by both Ives and Rzewski include setting an existing melody with a new
accompaniment, and (to a lesser extent) cantus firmus technique. Since Rzewski uses a
single melody as the sole thematic material for this piece, various settings of the tune
with new accompaniments and textures are both necessary and expected. The use of a
cantus firmus, presenting the melody in long notes against more quickly-moving notes, is
occasionally evident when Rzewski quotes the tune in augmentation in the bass, as in
mm. 61-64. These settings are cursory, however, and are more accurately deemed an
element of variation rather than an extended compositional technique.
One might, upon an initial hearing, view this movement as simply a written-out
improvisation. That would be plausible at first, since Rzewski is a piano virtuoso with
masterful skill at improvising. In fact, he once said, “Improvisation is the soul of
Lewis, 61.
45
classical music... in every great performance of classical music, there’s a considerable
amount of improvising.”^^ However, even though the melody seems at first to be
disjointed and scattered randomly through the piece, “Dreadful Memories” is in fact a
tightly woven and carefully planned composition, a set of variations with precise
symmetry and balance regarding the variety of textures, the number of times each
quotation appears, and the tonality within which it appears.
Quoted in Hayashi, 25.
46
CHAPTER IV
“WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?”
The second of the North American Ballads, “Which Side Are You On?” was
written by Florence Reece during the mid-1930s, about the attempt of coal miners in
Harlan County, Kentucky to unionize. This folk tune shares a political affinity with
“Dreadful Memories” in that they both express the struggle of impoverished Kentucky
coal miners during the Great Depression. But unlike “Dreadful Memories,” which is a
heartfelt lament about starving children, “Which Side Are You On?” is a vigorous and
angry protest song, written to demonstrate the unhealthy divisions between classes of
society, and more specifically to recruit miners to band together and unionize against
wealthy company operators.
An interesting historical account of the events surrounding this song is provided
by Edith Fowke and Joe Glaser, in Songs o f Work and Protest.
The bloodiest battles to build a nation have been in the coal fields in
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Illinois, and Kentucky. And surely the toughest and
meanest of all the coal fields where men fought for a voice and a place in the sun
was “Bloody Harlan” in Kentucky.
In 1931, coal miners in Harlan County were on strike. Armed company deputies
roamed the country side, terrorizing the mining communities, looking for union
leaders to beat, jail, or kill. But coal miners, brought up lean and hard in the
Kentucky mountain country, knew how to fight back, and heads were bashed and
bullets fired on both sides in Bloody Harlan.
It was this kind of class war - where the mine owners and their hired deputies on
the one side, and the independent, free-wheeling Kentucky coal miners on the
47
other - that provided the climate for Florence Reese’s song “Which Side Are You
On?” In it she captured the spirit of her times with blunt eloquence.
Mrs. Reese wrote from personal experience. Her husband, Sam, was one of the
union leaders, and Sheriff J.H. Blair and his men came to her house in search of
him when she was alone with seven children. They ransacked the whole house
and then kept watch outside, ready to shoot Sam if he returned.
One day during this tense period Mrs. Reese tore a sheet from a wall calendar and
wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?,” (although there is conflicting
information as to whether Mrs. Reese or her two daughters wrote this piece). But
then again, this is one of the dilemmas of the oral tradition in folk music. The
simple form of the song made it easy to adapt for use in other strikes, and many
different versions have circulated.^®
This political agenda is not new to Rzewski. As previously mentioned. The
People United Will Never Be Defeated!, thirty-six variations on “jEl Pueblo Unido Jamas
Sera Vencido!” was based on a protest song. The People United and “Which Side Are
You On?” both share a desire to start a revolution, and to persuade oppressed people that
they are powerful in groups.
Figure 4.1 illustrates the melody and lyrics to “Which Side Are You On?,” the
only tune of the North American Ballads in a minor key.
Edith Fowke and Joe Glaser, eds. Songs o f Work and Protest. (NY: Dover, 1972): 55.
48
Figure 4.1: “Which Side Are You On?” Folk Tune and Lyrics
hN.
s- -0 —0 —0 — 0
. ...
—0
fe ” 4 - J f- 0 * 0 m
0 0
Come all of you good workers, Good news to you I'll tell, Of
WHM
V
how the good old union has come in here to dwell.
Chorus
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
We’ve started our good battle.

We know we’re sure to win.
Because we’ve got the gun thugs
A-lookin’ very thin.
(The chorus is repeated after every verse)
They say they have to guard us

To educate their child
Their children lives in luxury.
Our children’s almost wild.
With pistols and with rifles

They take away our bread.
And if you miners hinted it.
They’ll sock you on the head.
If you go up to Harlan County

There is no neutral there.
You’ll either be a union man
or a thug for J. H. Blair.
49
Oh gentlemen, can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a gun thug
Or will you be a man?
My daddy was a miner,

77
He is now in the air and sun.
He’ll be with you fellow workers.
Until the battle’s won7*
Additional verses for this song are supplied by The Ballad o f America collection:
My daddy was a miner.

And I’m a miner’s son
And I’ll stick with the union
Till every battle’s won.
Oh workers, can you stand it?

Oh tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab.
Don’t scab for the bosses.

Don’t listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance
7Q
Unless we organize.
“Which Side Are You On?,” Rzewski’s favorite protest tune,*” is in the minor
mode. The scale used is a natural minor scale with the sixth degree omitted. This scale is
very similar to a blues scale, which omits the second scale degree. (See Figure 4.2.) The
lack of a leading tone combined with the implied use of a minor dominant is reminiscent
of the Appalachian folk tune sound. Although many of the motives in this piece are
similar in structure, Rzewski never uses all six pitches in a single motive or subphrase.
Blacklisted and without a job.

Lyrics in Lomax, 176-177.
John Anthony Scott, ed.. The Ballad o f America (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern
Illinois University Press, 1983), 342.
Hayashi, 114.
50
The structure of this melody and its repetition of similar melodic patterns results in
various rotations of the pitch class collection, and makes a traditional motivic analysis
difficult. The following example represents the scale structure of the melody, as well as
the unordered pitch collections used in this analysis. This scale shares similar
characteristics to the blues scale, a scale that Rzewski explored in the last of the North
American Ballads, the “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.”
Figure 4.2: “Which Side Are You On?” Scale and Pitch Collections
scale used in
"Which Side Are You On?"
-O-
XT ^
{ 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 }
blues scale
XE
XT I **
XT
{ 0, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 }
51
Rzewski alters some of the pitches of the original folk tune in this second piece of
the North American Ballads, although with the oral tradition of these folk tunes, it would
not be surprising to find several different versions of the same melody. The following
only serves as a comparison between Rzewski’s use of the melody, and that which is
notated in various authoritative folk tune collections.^' Bracketed motives of the melody
have been reduced to unordered sets. In the melody of the first two phrases, which
comprise the verse, Rzewski uses the tonic pitch instead of the lowered leading tone.
These slight changes affect the ordering of pitch classes by rotating the collection, shown
in Figure 4.3 on the next page. Note that Rzewski’s alteration reduces the presence of the
dominant and allows the melody to be situated in a single chord, thereby allowing him to
compose with motives drawn from the melody without concerning himself with
functional harmonic relations.
The Ballad o f America edited by John Anthony Scott and Hard Hitting Songs fo r Hard-Hit
People compiled by Alan Lomax, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger.
52
Figure 4.3: “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Verse)
{7,0} { 10, 2 , 0 , 7 }
Original:
I i
(7,0} { 0, 2, 10, 7 }
Rzewski:
Ii 0—0 0— 0
{ 10, 2 , 0 , 7 } ( 3 , 7 , 5, 2 , 0 }
Original:
t o
W ~0
(0, 2,10,7} ( 3 , 7, 5, 2 , 0 }
Rzewski:
S 0 0 0~~0
The final phrase of the melody, the chorus, is essentially movement from the tonic
up to the dominant pitch, and back down to the tonic. In the original melody, 3 is used
ascending with 2 descending. In Rzewski’s version, 2 is used both ascending and
descending, creating retrograde symmetry between both groups of the last phrase (see
Figure 4.4).
53
Figure 4.4: “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Chorus)
Original:
{0, 3, 5, 7} {7, 5, 2,
f 0}
Rzewski:
0 .~y
{0, 2, 5, 7) {7, 5, 2, 0}
Rzewski weakened the appearance of the dominant harmony in the verse, but in the
chorus the reverse is true. Here Rzewski’s alteration now anticipates and strengthens the
dominant. The result of this symmetrical statement of the chorus is a palindromic,
complementary melody which implies a question and answer, alluding to and reinforcing
the title of the song.
The grouping structure analysis in Figure 4.5 illustrates that this song has a three-
phrase structure, two phrases for the verse, and a final phrase for the chorus. It is
important to note that Rzewski repeats the chorus in his quotations of the complete folk
tune, reinforcing the sense of balance and symmetry. The two phrases of the verse
combine in a contrasting period structure, and the final phrase of the chorus repeats to
create a repeated phrase.
54
Figure 4.5: Grouping Structure Analysis of “Which Side Are You On?” Melody
mm. 1 4 5
i i V
mm. 9 12
i i
The Schenkerian graph of this melody in Figure 4.6 demonstrates the unique
framework of 8 - 5 - 1 in the fundamental line. Rather than a traditional stepwise

A A
descending line, this melody is essentially centered around the tonic (8,1) and dominant
(5) pitches, although stepwise melodic motion may be implied at the very end. The use of
the lowered leading tone implies a minor dominant harmony (v), not uncommon in modal
folk music. The harmonic framework is simple, an expression of tonic and dominant
harmonies (v - i), just as the melody emphasizes 1 and 5 as structural pitches.
55
Reproduced with permission o f the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Figure 4.6: Schenkerian Analysis of “Which Side Are You On?” Folk Tune
II
m
b: i 1
mm.: 1 4
iI
ZZ
a V
mm.: 5
A A
5 1
I
m
1 1
mm. 9 12
56
This piece begins with an immediate development of the theme. In the first
measure the composer presents an unaccompanied fragment of the folk tune, which poses
the question indicated in the title of the piece. This statement is the beginning of an
intense polyphonic variation which lasts for 14 measures. This piece is the only one of
the four North American Ballads which begins with an abrupt layering of polytonal
transpositions of the theme.
The meter changes every measure for the first nine measures. In addition, the folk
tune fragments are presented in all twelve tonalities, and in several rhythmic variations,
creating an opening which is both tonally and metrically ambiguous. The contrapuntal
jumble of the opening is followed by a transition to the next section, a dialogue in
minor. This transition, mm. 12-14 is a good example of some of the pianistic difficulties
inherent in Rzewski’s music, since both the left hand and the right hand must span tenths.
Kim Hayashi notes.
This is one of the definitive challenges and limitations of Rzewski’s keyboard

music: it requires a very large hand - not just to reach the intervals, but to do so
often times with filling in a chord, and/or playing the chords or intervals at very
fast tempi. This prevents anyone with small hands from approaching these pieces.
Although there are those places in which one could roll the chord or interval,
there are definite instances when this is not possible, plausible, or the intent of the
writing.^^
The next section, mm. 15-21, is characterized by imitative counterpoint between
the tenor and bass voices, and a newly-composed obbligato, derived from the folk song.
Hayashi, 106.
57
in the upper voices. A brief passage in mm. 22-25 offers a respite from the intense
polyphony, with a statement of the chorus in a dissonant chordal texture in B minor.
Imitative counterpoint resumes in measure 26, with a dialogue between the soprano and
alto voices. The folk melody is presented in its entirety, in canon at the fifth, between the
two voices. The chorus of this complete quote, mm. 30-33, is decorated with blues-style
grace notes as it moves from the soprano and alto into the lower voices. Polyphonic
layering returns in mm. 34, and beginning in mm. 37 (marked “swinging the beat”)
Rzewski alludes to the antiphonal texture of the previous section, this time embellished
with triple divisions of the beat. In mm. 40-41 the composer again juxtaposes two
meters, creating a hemiola between the right hand (6/8) and the left hand (3/4).
A transitional passage in mm. 46-50 is marked by augmentation of the theme in
all voices, and is followed by an improvisational-sounding homophonic variation of the
folk tune on a Gtt natural minor scale in measure 51. Polyphonic layering of the theme
returns in mm. 60, with metrical changes and cross rhythms between the hands. The
dense texture becomes even more intense, with triads divided between the hands, and a
difficult arpeggiated figure in mm. 81. Rzewski utilizes abundant trills and tremolos in
mm. 69-74, and again in mm. 89-91 with the addition of dramatic palm glissandi.
In measure 75, Rzewski introduced a counter melody referred to here as motive z,
which returns in the transitional passage in mm. 92-95, and which is used extensively in
mm. 96-126, the large minimalistic section which follows. Although z is not a motive of
this melody (Figure 4.5), it represents a fusion of two statements of motive x from the
chorus. Figure 4.7 shows that motive z is based on a pentatonic collection, essentially the
58
hexatonic collection used for the melody, with the third scale degree omitted. When
presented in this way, the collection may be divided so that the first four notes represent
the .r motive from the chorus, and the last four notes represent the same x motive
transposed up a fourth. Although these overlapping [0,2,5,7] tetrachords depiet two
quotations of the same motive, they are fused together and used so often hy Rzewski that
the figure becomes an independent motive in this pieee.
Figure 4.7: “Which Side Are You On?” Motive Z
X (E minor)
311 -O-
-o-
O
X (B minor)
Beginning in mm. 96, Rzewski features the z motive in an extended minimalistic section.
The motive is presented in C minor, with each measure repeated, and with only slight
changes from measure to measure. The result is a rhythmic, syncopated, hypnotic section
which lasts a total of 64 measures, including the repeats. The composer simultaneously
creates a sensation of both tension and relaxation, while the listener “is mesmerized into a
stupor of relief and anticipation.”*^
®Mbid., 113.
59
Shortly after this minimalistic variation, Rzewski offers an optional improvisation
to the performer. The composer’s indications are as follows:
Optional free improvisation, subject to the following conditions:

1. Improvisation should begin as a sudden radical change, with no “transition.”
That is, there should he no ambiguity about where the written music ends and
where the improvisation begins. The manner in which this sense of a leap to a
different kind of order is evoked is left to the interpreter. A few simple
limitations, however, apply:
2. Begin by alluding in some way to the tonality of B minor. This may be brief.
End with a rather long section in C-Mixolydian (scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B1> -C).
3. Improvisation may use techniques employed in written music (polytonal
transpositions of theme, etc.) or not; but in any case should represent a
different “side” of the same form (many different tonalities in the first part,
one tonality in the second).
4. Improvisation, if played, should last at least as long as the preceding written
music.
5. If no improvisation is played, pass immediately to the finale.
Most interesting about these conditions is that Rzewski makes it clear that the
improvisation should last “at least as long” as the music written up to that point. Ronald
Edwin Lewis notes.
Rzewski develops the question-answer idea of the text by dividing the music into
two parts - a written part which includes the variations and an optional free
improvisation. The parallel structure created establishes a duality which is
reflected in the title. Rzewski believes that, on a higher level, the opposing sides
of written and improvised, structured and non-structured, should provoke
thought.*^
The composer’s direction to begin the improvisation in B minor before including a
section in C mixolydian further expresses the central tonal conflict within this piece, B
Frederic Rzewski, Squares • North American Ballads. (Tokyo: Zen-On Music Co., Ltd., 1982.):
43.
Lewis, 74.
60
minor against C mixolydian. Just as in Roger Sessions’ Piano Sonata No. 1 and Elliot
Carter’s Piano S o n a ta ,th is work uses a juxtaposition of semitones to represent an
overall larger conflict within the p i e c e , i n this case a political conflict reflected by the
question posed in the title. That Rzewski requests that any improvisation should begin
with a “sudden radical change” is significant, since this union song is a cry for social and
political change. When he stipulates that the improvisation should represent a “different
‘side’ of the same form,” Rzewski alludes to the title of the piece. The performer must
now consider the various “sides” associated with this piece: notation or improvisation,
structure or free forms, B minor or C mixolydian, classical counterpoint or jazz-inspired
minimalism, union rebel or company thug.
The composer includes an addendum, a suggested ending for the improvisation, at
the end of the piece. This possible ending includes the use of silently-depressed keys to
create harmonics from sympathetic vibration. Following the improvisation opportunity,
Rzewski presents the Finale, an eight-measure quotation of the folk tune in its entirety.
This most dramatic and direct quotation appears in homophonic chordal texture with
doubled octaves and extreme dynamic indications, in the key of B minor.
Because improvisation, when attempted by the performer, is such an important
element of this work, Rzewski’s viewpoints on improvisation should be carefully
considered. Ronald Edwin Lewis, in a study of the solo piano music of Rzewski from
1953-1991, asserts that “if there could be one single element that could best sum up
Rzewski studied with Sessions at Princeton, and was well-acquainted with Carter and his music.
Bell and Olmstead, 451.
61
Rzewski’s style, it might be that of improvisation.” It is apparent that Rzewski believes
the art of improvisation is at the very soul of true classical music. In a 1991 interview,
the composer said.
One should remember that most of the well-known classical composers, up to and
including somebody like Brahms, were at least as well known for their
improvising gifts as for their work in the form of written composition. This was
especially true of someone like Beethoven. The solo improvising of Beethoven
was the main attraction at a typical Beethoven concert. It was the event that came
at the end of the concert and it was the highlight. All of the written compositions
were kind of an introduction to that... The scores that were left behind by these
composers are sort of like the bones, but the improvising was the flesh and blood
of the music, the soul of the music. Of course, very little of that is left. It seems
to have been stamped out by the schools. Improvisation must have been an art
form that was passed down from generation to generation, and somehow it seems
to have largely disappeared.^^
The composer undoubtedly takes this art form very seriously, as a virtuosic pianist with a
remarkable talent for extemporaneous performance. As mentioned, Joshua Kosman
observes that “He improvises at the keyboard with unconunon fluency - pursuing simple
material through a dizzying welter of key changes, thematic development, and
ornamentation - and he spins those improvisations into pyrotechnic pieces, often
extravagant sets of variations based on straightforward popular t h e m e s . T h i s
description of Rzewski’s performance style may also be applied to the North American
Ballads, especially “Which Side Are You On?.” Lewis notes, “His performance of
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the New Hampshire Symphony included five
improvised cadenzas (one in the first movement, one in the second movement, and three
Lewis, 122.
Quoted in Ibid., 20-21.
Kosman, 30.
62
in the third movement). Rzewski feels that this is stylistically acceptable despite being
criticized for adding more improvised music than Beethoven’s written music.
Kim Hayashi acknowledges the challenge associated with improvising in this
movement.
In order to carry out the instructions [Rzewski] provides effectively, one must not
only be confident in the art of improvisation, but must also be extraordinarily
proficient and adept at creating music with a sense of structure and form to
correlate the improvisation to the rest of the music in the piece. It would be
presumptuous of anyone who cannot meet these requirements to even attempt to
do so.^^
Hayashi’s opinion seems misguided, given the composer’s inclination towards
improvised music, and a philosophy of the dualism associated with the title of this piece.
The effect of the added improvisation in this movement, regardless of the skill of the
performer, is to answer the question, “Which Side Are You On?’’: that which is written
out in the classical tradition, or that which is improvised. That Rzewski specifically
requests a “sudden, radical change’’ which serves to “represent a different ‘side’ of the
same form,’’ is evidence enough that the attempt to improvise is more important than an
exhibition of the performer’s improvisational skill. Composer Cornelius Cardew, a good
friend of Rzewski’s during the 1960s, once wrote, “From a certain point of view
improvisation is the highest mode of musical activity, for it is based on the acceptance of
music’s fatal weakness and essential and most beautiful characteristics - its transience.
Lewis, 20.
’^Hayashi, 113.
63
The desire always to be right is an ignoble taskmaster, as is the desire for immortality.”^^
The performer should embrace the style of Rzewski’s pieces and venture an
improvisation when suggested by the composer.
The journey through this second piece begins with scattered fragments of the
melody, at first jumbled and confused, which then wander through passages of imitation,
variation, and minimalism, before ending with a forceful and direct quotation in B minor
at the end of the piece. The quotation fragments, at first astray and disorganized, are
unified at the end of the piece, with all voices joined together to chant the protest song,
“Which Side Are You On?”
Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Which Side Are You On?”
The composer uses at least 205 quotations of the original folk tune in this second
of the North American Ballads, more than twice the number of quotations in the first
movement. These instances appear only in the written score, and do not include the
additional fragments a performer might insert into the optional improvisation section. Of
all the motives from this folk tune, Rzewski prefers to use fragments from the chorus,
motives x and y, which account for 170 quotations (79 for x, 91 for y). Motives a and b,
quoted 11 and 24 times respectively, are used much less often. Motive “z” based on the a:
ascending motive is used 10 times, excluding the repetitions in the minimalistic variation,
and motive z based on the y descending motive is quoted 5 times.
Quoted in Bell and Olmstead, 453.
64
Quotations are rather evenly distributed among the voices, with approximately 86
quotations in the highest voice, 76 in the alto, 75 in the tenor, and 65 in the bass. As in
all pieces in this set, the soprano voice is favored. More than half of the quotations are
presented in polyphonic texture, although Rzewski does use imitative texture for 29
melodic fragments. Chordal texture is used 18 times, often in a dissonant poly tonal
setting, with folk tune fragments appearing in different tonalities at the same time. In
these instances, the composer most often presents chordal statements of two voices (ten
times), three voices (eight times), or four voices (seven times) simultaneously. However,
two instances of five voices quoted simultaneously (mm. 82 and 87) and two instances of
six voices quoted simultaneously (mm. 79) appear in this work.
As in the first piece, Rzewski utilizes every possible tonality, this time in the
minor mode (see Figure 4.8, which includes all motives quoted, even those within full
quotations of the folk melody). Quotations in B minor and E minor are used most
extensively, because B minor is the most prominent tonality of the piece, and because of
the frequent use of imitation and canon in melodic fragments alternating between B
minor and E minor.
65
Figure 4.8: Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Which Side Are You On?”

Occurrences Total
c 23 9
g 18 7
d 21 8
a 12 5
e 32 12
b 39 16
fS/gt 19 7
ctt/dt 10 4
gtt/at 20 8
dtt/et 29 11
alt/bl> 21 8
f 13 5
Totals: 257 100%
Rzewski’s use of quotation in “Which Side Are You On?” is quasi-minimalistic in
nature because even the accompanimental figures are derived from the folk tune itself.
The melodies are quoted in an exhaustive manner, and melodic material other than the
quotations are used only for accompaniment or harmonic support.
The strongest example of a compositional technique used by Ives and illustrated
by Rzewski in this piece is that of cumulative setting. According to Burkholder, who
formulated the term, cum ulative quotation is “a com plex form in w hich the theme, either
a borrowed tune or a melody paraphrased from one or more existing tunes, is presented
complete only near the end of a movement, preceded by development of motives from
the theme, fragmentary or altered presentation of the theme, and exposition of important
66
countermelodies.”^'^ The cumulative setting, a form which was “virtually unique to
Ives”^^ may now be seen as a tool used extensively by Rzewski in the North American
Ballads as well as other works. This method of cumulative quotation is used effectively
by Rzewski in both “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” (discussed in Chapter VI) and
In the beginning of this piece, motives from the folk tune are immediately quoted
in a poly tonal and contrapuntal setting. Although this is an unusual example of
cumulative setting in that fragments of the melody are presented at the very beginning of
the piece, the intense dissonant and polyphonic setting makes them difficult to identify as
a folk tune. For the first fourteen measures, the listener is besieged with an immediate
stretto of folk tune fragments which seem randomly scattered in all voices. Beginning in
mm. 15, these fragments become somewhat more organized in an imitative dialogue
between the tenor and bass voices. The chorus of “Which Side Are You On?” is
repeatedly stated in Bl> minor in the tenor voice, and answered in stretto in the bass, in Et
minor. That these statements of the melody are unified through consistent tonality and
texture demonstrates the gradual development seen in cumulative quotations: fragments
of the melody gradually become more and more recognizable, until a full quotation is
heard at the end of the piece. Beginning in mm. 15, although the fragments are indeed
more organized and recognizable, the listener’s ear is drawn to the new m elody in the
right hand, while the imitative presentation of the quotations in the left hand function
more as an accompaniment.
Burkholder, All Made o f Tunes, 4.

Burkholder, “Quotation and Emulation,” 3.
67
In mm. 22-25, quotations from the choras are presented for the first time in a
chordal setting. The result of this textural change is an easily recognizable presentation
of the folk tune, although only the chorus is stated. Simultaneous statements of the theme
in varying tonalities (three tonalities in mm. 22, four in mm. 23-25), however, obscure
the tonal orientation of the simple folk melody. Finally, in mm. 26-33, Rzewski presents
the entire protest song, both verse and chorus. The tune is quoted in the soprano voice in
B minor, and echoed in canon in the alto voice on E minor, with gentle accompanying
two-note slurs in the left hand. Both the soprano and alto voices contain complete
quotations of the verse and chorus of the melody, which move to the bass and tenor
voices in mm. 32-33. It is unusual in a cumulative setting to present a full quotation of
the melody before the end of the piece, and for Rzewski this is clearly not the full and
final presentation of the song, which - in fact - does not occur until the end. Polyphonic
layering resumes in mm. 34-50, and from this section until the end of the piece the
composer returns to the style of melodic fragmentation presented at the beginning. Not
until the very end of the piece, mm. 131-138, does the listener hear another explicit
presentation of the melody in the single tonality of B minor.
The other categories of quotation used by Burkholder, evident in this piece, are
variations, and (to an extent) modeling. As in “Dreadful Memories,” this piece emerges
as a series of variations, marked by changes in texture, key, and tempo. The addition of
the extended minimalistic variation in mm. 96-126, as well as the lengthy improvisation
obfuscate tbe variation form, since the variations are of irregular length, and occur in the
first half of the piece only. Rzewski utilizes the question-answer idea suggested by the
68
text, by dividing the music into two parts: one written and one improvised. This two-
part construction leads to the final compositional procedure identified by Burkholder and
used by Rzewski in this movement, that of modeling.
Modeling a work “on an existing piece, assuming its structure, incorporating part
of its melodic material, imitating its form or procedures, or using it as a model in some
other way”^^ is used by the composer in a more or less programmatic fashion in this
piece. The duality reflected in the title “Which Side Are You On?” was discussed
previously. The structure of the original folk tune, a four-motive verse followed by a
four-motive chorus (if repeated, as in Rzewski’s setting), is a model for this piece. Like
the protest song, the piece is divided into two equal halves, a manifestation of the “sides”
of the original tune.
Hayashi believes.
Of the four ballads, this piece is the most accessible, both to the performer and to
the listener. One of the major reasons for this is the writing has a less
complicated overlaying of the complex rhythms that Rzewski utilizes. This
creates a more straight-forward and progressively moving music which eases
more readily into the different sections. The dissonances which one experiences
are not as chaotic and are less an invasion of one’s auditory senses as well as less
an invasion of the sensibility of the music. Although the technical demands are
still extreme, and the demands of the endurance of the performer are at their
maximum, the music flows with greater ease from section to section... the writing
moves in a more comprehensible and understandable fashion than the other pieces
of the set, thus enabling a more cognizant grasp of the music.

” Hayashi, 114.
69
The pieces which Rzewski sets in a cumulative fashion, “Which Side Are You On?” and
“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” are the most effective, programmatic, virtuosic, and
popular of the North American Ballads.
70
CHAPTER V
“DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”
The traditional black American spiritual “Down by the Riverside” was fitted with
new words during the Vietnam War. Also known as “Ain’t Gonna Study War No More,”
the song was performed in the spirit of nuclear protest demonstrations and anti-war
sentiment of the 1960s. According to Ronald Edwin Lewis, this third piece of the North
American Ballads
originated as a work written for the opening of the Festival of Political Song held
every two years in Berlin. Each time a different country was featured. Vietnam
was the country focused on in 1979, and Rzewski was asked to write a piano
piece that was in some way related to Vietnam. He started by working on a piece
based on a Vietnamese tune but recalled having trouble getting into the work. He
then decided to stay with the music of his own country and find a tune that had
some symbolic relationship to Vietnam. His choice, the familiar spiritual, “Down
by the Riverside,” was widely sung during the period of the Vietnam War by
members of the American peace movement.^^
The melody and lyrics to this folk song are illustrated in Figure 5.1.
Lewis, 76.
71
Figure 5.1: “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune and Lyrics
- W * ---- — _J) ^ 9 -----— # 9 ' 9 -M

L
Gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside,
i
I W 0
m
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside. Gonna
0 0> 0 —0
lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside, I
ain't gonna stu-dy war no

i
more.
p M j W IIM I -I I L I
£ 0 - # 0 0
Ain't goima study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna
i&
_0 I ^ 0—0
stu - dy war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gonna
i
0 - 0 \ -0 0
-■ - \ 0 ' Z l^
S tu d y war no more. I ain't gorma s t u - dy war no more.
72
2. I’m gonna talk with the Prince of Peace, down hy the riverside,
Down hy the riverside, down by the riverside.
I’m gonna talk with the Prince of Peace, down by the riverside.
Ain’t gonna study war no more.
(Chorus is repeated after every verse)
3. I’m gonna stick my sword in the golden sand, etc.
4. I’m gonna shake hands with every man, etc.
5. I’m gonna walk with my brothers in peace, etc.
6. I’m gonna make love, make love, not war, etc.
7. I’m gonna put on my freedom robe, etc.^^
Interestingly, this song of peace is the only one of the four North American
Ballads which does not specifically address the composer’s political agenda centering
around the economic hardship of working-class people. However, on a broader scale, the
idea of a government leading its country into war despite the objections of millions of its
people would certainly be consistent with Rzewski’s social concern for the needs of the
common people and their fight for social change, and the need to join together for a
common cause.
As in “Which Side Are You On?,’’ the composer alters the tune slightly in the
North American Ballads. Rhythms are syncopated, undoubtedly in a more realistic
depiction of how the folk song is generally performed, and certain pitches are altered.
Figure 5.2 shows a comparison of the original folk tune as notated in folk music
anthologies, and Rzewski’s treatment of the tune in the North American Ballads.
^ Wanda Willson Whitman, Songs that Changed the World, (NY: Crown Publishers, 1970): 152-
153, and Glaser, 85-86.
73
Rhythmic changes are apparent, but changes in the melodic line are circled in Rzewski’s
melody.
Figure 5.2: “Down By the Riverside” Melody Comparison
HOriginal:
Tr4t i—* i-
I Rzewski:
i
WW
ry y £
)■ d 0 -0
^ J J» J J J ~
g
m
i
0: 0: 0LM
m
(M tf
n
0 0 ' 0 0
n 0
I
74
This four-phrase folk tune begins with motive x, 8 notes long (9 in Rzewski’s
setting), characterized by a leap of a major sixth down. Following x are three one-
measure statements of the y motive on the words “down by the riverside,” which end the
first phrase. The x motive reappears in the second phrase, followed by one statement of
y, then a new motive z on the words “ain’t gonna study war no more.” The second phrase
completes the first full verse, and ends on an authentic cadence, with the melody on 1.
The third phrase, the chorus, begins with two statements of the motive p, characterized by
a stepwise ascent to a series of repeated notes on 4, the highest pitch in the song. In the
original melody, the third phrase ends with a new cadential motive q, which brings the
phrase to a close with an open cadence on V/IV and melody note ending on 3. The
original melody then restates the two p motives in the final phrase, followed by a return
to the cadential z motive, ending with an authentic cadence. In Rzewski’s treatment of
the melody, the final two phrases are identical, with motive z replacing motive q in the
third phrase. Both versions of the melody are two parallel periods, one for the verse and
one for the chorus. With Rzewski, though, the antecedent phrase of the second parallel
period ends with a closed cadence. Figures 5.3 and 5.4 show the difference in grouping
analysis for these two treatments of the folk tune.
75
Figure 5.3: Grouping Structure Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Original Folk
Melody
A
a 5
X y y' y" '
mm. 1 4
I I
A
a' 1
X y Z ^
' ' ' ' 8

imn.4
I I
A
b 3
r ~ p p q 1
' ' ' '

mm. 8 12
IV V/IV
A
b' 1
r ~ p p z 1
' ' ' '

mm. 12 16
IV V- I
76
Figure 5.4: Grouping Structure Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune in
the North American Ballads
A
a 5
1 X y y’ y ^
1 1 1 1 1 ... .
mm. 1 4
I I
A
a’ 1
r X z ^
y
1 1
mm.4 ' ' ' 8
I I
A
b 1
1 p p 1
r~ 1 1 1
mm. 8 12
IV V- I
A
b 1
1 p p 1
mm. 12 16
IV V- I
77
The Schenkerian graph in Figure 5.5 on the next page illustrates the ^ 5- 1
fundamental line which occurs three times throughout the original folk tune. In the verse
(the first two lines of Figure 5.5), the preliminary linear descent appears twice, the
melody decorated with chordal skips, passing tones, and neighbor tones. In the chorus,
the descending line is embellished to include the fourth scale degree, but is interrupted at
the end of the third line. The final phrase of the chorus is characterized by a full
statement of the S - 2 - i fundamental line. The harmonic structure of this melody is
simple, with only tonic, dominant, and suhdominant harmonies.
78
Figure 5.5: Schenkerian Analysis of “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune
3 2
¥
____________________ d9-----------------------------------
\-------------------6 ?----------------------------------- -------------------------- £?-------------------------
D: I
mm.; 4
I V I
mm.:
V I
mm.: 9
A A
3 2
I
mm.: 13 16
79
This piece begins with a gentle gospel-style accompaniment in the left hand, in
the key of D major. As in “Dreadful Memories,” a counter melody is indicated with
tenuto markings. When performed in context, in the key of D major, the counter melody
serves as a simple and interesting counterpoint to the right hand melody. Closer
observation of the stressed sixteenth notes, however, reveals that they form the same
[0,3,5,7] tetrachord as in the original folk song version of “Which Side Are You On?.” In
fact, Rzewski surreptitiously quotes the chorus from the previous movement in the same
B minor mode, while simultaneously using the same fundamental pentatonic pitches as
the jc motive of “Down By the Riverside.” Because of the sixteenth-note accompaniment
and the composer’s metronome indication in the score, this third movement would appear
to be quicker and more vigorous than the tender lullaby of the first movement. However,
Rzewski subsequently stated in interviews during 1991 and 1993 that he now believes his
tempo marking in the printed score is much too fast.^°® Performers should take care not
to play this movement as quickly as indicated in the score. In this piece, as in “Dreadful
Memories,” the first full quotation of the melody is heard in the right hand at the
beginning of the piece. In “Down by the Riverside,” the melody is presented in parallel
sixths and thirds with ample syncopation. The composer uses specific expressive
markings in this first section, and he indicates the dynamic shape of every phrase. In m.
10, when the chorus (motive p) begins, the parallel sixths are transformed into mildly
dissonant chords with added sixths and sevenths. The texture of the melody is again
Lewis, 77 and Hayashi, 116.
80
broadened inm . 14 with the second statement of the chorus where the melody is doubled
at the octave.
Although the listener expects to hear a statement of the second verse because of
the accompaniment and anacrusis in m. 18, in m. 19 the composer begins a contrapuntal
section of juxtaposed fragments of the theme. The x motive begun in m. 18 is stated in
the tonic key in the next measure, but simultaneously the polytonal fragments begin to
overlap. In this section, the composer has marked, “Lo stesso tempo, ma con rubato e
flessible, quasi una fantasia.” The “quasi una fantasia” indication is especially
interesting, since Beethoven indicated the same at the beginning of his “Moonlight”
Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2, and since Rzewski exhibits in this section an almost Beethovenian
obsession with small motivic fragments, stating them over and over again, reworking
them in different tonalities and rhythms. In m. 37 the composer offers a brief respite
from the dissonant contrapuntal quotations with a free melody derived from the x motive,
accompanied in the left hand by a pentatonic figure. Shortly after, though, contrasting
sections of polytonality return until m. 62, where Rzewski offers the performer an
opportunity to improvise. As in “Which Side Are You On?,” the composer notes, “If
improvisation is played, it should be about as long as the preceding written music.”^*^*
Afterwards, brief canonic statements of x are followed by a chordal statement in three
voices of a different folk tune, the end of the melody from “Dreadful Memories” in mm.
64-65. The composer is undoubtedly hinting at the similarities between the first and the
third movements of the North American Ballads. This is not the first time that Rzewski
North American Ballads, 48.
81
inserts folk tunes from other movements. “Which Side Are You On?” is quoted briefly in
measures 26, 41-42, and 44-45, all in an upper voice, as well as in the beginning of the
piece. None are as apparent, though, as the statement of “Dreadful Memories,” which is
not presented contrapuntally, but rather in three simultaneous voices over a pedal tone E.
This third movement is the only one of the Ballads which utilizes quotations from other
movements, and interestingly, presents melodies from all the movements heard so far.
The next section of “Dreadful Memories,” mm. 67-82, is the most engaging. The
composer begins a quasi-ragtime variation, a written-out improvisation in the original key
of D major. The section is marked with repeat signs, and the first time through, the
performer is to omit the tenor line but play the walking bass in octaves in the left hand.
The upper voice, though it never quotes the tune directly, begins with the characteristic
leap of a major sixth down, then freely explores the style in syncopated rhythms with
appealing articulation and whimsical added grace notes. According to the score, the
performer is to begin at the extremely soft dynamic range of ppp and build to mf. On the
repeat, the bass is to be played as written, with the tenor voice added. This tenor voice
carries a complete quotation of the folk tune in its original key, with the dynamics
building from m f to fff. During this gradual crescendo from two extreme dynamic ranges,
the melody seems to emerge out of nowhere before building to a peak at mm. 83. Rather
than end the piece here, Rzewski concludes with an eight-measure codetta of polytonal
fragments, again layered contrapuntally, and again shifting from one dynamic extreme
(fff) to another (ppp). This final section is partly reminiscent of a traditional gospel style
82
where the left hand plays in tenths th ro u g h o u t.T h is confused jumble finally culminates
on a D5 chord, and in the high register of the piano, two final fragments of the .x motive
are heard softer and higher, until they seem to evaporate peacefully at the end of the
movement.
Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Down By the Riverside”
In this third piece of the North American Ballads, fragments of the folk tune are
heard at least 137 times, including the two full quotations at the beginning and near the
end of the piece. The composer concentrates on the first motive, motive a:, which is
stated 71 times. This motive, with its leap of a major sixth down, is the most unique and
identifiable unit of the melody. Motive y is quoted only half as often, 34 times, and
motive p is quoted 25 times. Most quotations of motive p occur in pairs, in the same
voice and tonality. The cadential motive z is stated only 7 times, and of those, 3 are
statements in the full presentation of the folk tune, rather than isolated fragments.
Quotations are fairly balanced between voices, with 46 statements in the soprano
voice, 42 in the alto, 40 in the tenor, and 34 in the bass. The extended quotation of the
entire melody in mm. 67-82 explains the increased number of motives which appear in
the tenor voice. Unlike “Which Side Are You On?,” melodies from this piece are never
quoted in imitation. The composer prefers a contrapuntal texture, with 125 folk tune
fragments stated in polyphony. A melody and accompaniment texture is heard rarely,
with only 8 quotations in this texture after the initial statement of the theme. Fifteen of
Lewis, 77.
83
the folk tune motives are presented in a chordal texture, most of them as simultaneous
polytonal statements. Twelve times the composer quotes a melody in two voices
simultaneously; most often these voices are a major third or minor third apart, as in mm.
25, 32-34,49-50, etc. Occasionally, the interval is inverted to form a sixth (see mm. 50
and 52), although in one instance the melody is quoted in parallel fifths (mm. 52-53),
once in diminished octaves (m. 58 in the left hand), and once in palm clusters (mm. 57-
58). Three times the quotations are heard simultaneously in three voices, and one time
each in five voices (m. 58) and six voices (m. 60).
Again Rzewski utilizes every tonality in these quotations, although the
distribution of keys is less balanced than in “Dreadful Memories.” In this piece, the full
melody is presented in D major, both at the beginning (mm. 1-18) and near the end in the
tenor voice (mm. 67-82). Other quotations of the tune are found most often in El> major
(l^II of D), as shown in Figure 5.6 on the following page.
84
Figure 5.6: Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Down By the Riverside”

Occurrences Total
C 11 7
G 14 9
D 16 22
A 9 6
E 12 8
B 7 5
F i/a 12 8
Ctt/Dt 6 4
At 7 5
Et 20 13
Bt 11 7
F 9 6
Totals: 134 100%
As in “Dreadful Memories,” the other movement of the North American Ballads
which begins with a complete statement of the folk tune, “Down By the Riverside” uses
the variation procedure characteristic of the music of Charles Ives. The first variation
begins in mm. 19, and like “Dreadful Memories” is a polytonal and contrapuntal stretto.
The final variation, the ragtime setting in mm. 67, presents the second and final complete
statement of the folk tune in the tenor voice on the repeat. Of all compositional forms,
Rzewski seems to prefer variations, and as Lewis notes, “The variation form continues to
afford Rzewski the most potential for diversity.”*”^ Several of his piano works are sets of
variations, including Variations on “;El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido! ” (“The
People United Will Never Be Defeated!”) of 1975 and the Variations on "No Place to go
103
Ibid., 96.
85
but Around" of 1974. Other keyboard works which are not explicitly titled variations,
however, tend to gravitate towards variation form, including Four Pieces (1977), Mayn
Yingele (1988), the second and third movements of the Sonata (1991), and The
Housewife’s Lament for harpsichord (1980) as well as the North American Ballads.
Other types of quotation used in “Down By the Riverside” include setting an
existing tune with a new accompaniment, and the use of stylistic allusion. The method of
setting a melody with a new accompaniment was discussed in the first piece, “Dreadful
Memories,” and is used in similar fashion in this work. The use of stylistic allusion,
however, is used for the first time in this third piece. According to Burkholder, stylistic
allusion is defined as “alluding not to a specific work but to a general style or type of
music.”^®"^ The final variation of this work is written in an old-fashioned ragtime style,
with a syncopated melody and grace-note slides set against a walking bass line. While
Rzewski does allude to the specific folk tune of the title, he also suggests a style of early
ragtime piano music. Perhaps less apparent is the gospel-style setting of the opening,
with the syncopated melody in sixths, as well as the left-hand tenths at the end of the
piece. Both are reminiscent of the genre of this particular folk tune, a spiritual. “Down
By the Riverside,” unlike the other three of the North American Ballads, is not about
revolution and the rise of the lower class, but is rather a call for nonviolence. Written for
the Festival of Political Song, this piece symbolizes an alliance of many people against
the Vietnam War, and expresses a value cherished by Rzewski and many Americans:
peace.
86
CHAPTER VI
“WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES”
Rzewski’s most interesting use of folk-tune quotation may be found in the last of
the North American Ballads, the “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.” The author of the text
and the origin of the melody are unknown, although the tune was recorded by Bill Wolff
in 1939 in North Carolina, and later by the eminent folk singer Pete Seeger. The song on
which this piece is based is a work song of laborers, primarily women and children, in the
Southern textile mills in the 1930s. (See Figure 6.1 on the next page.)
87
Figure 6.1; “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Bines” Folk Tnne and Lyrics
— m m m “r)
-- m 4J « J
Old m an Sar-gent, sit-ting at the desk, the dam ned old fool won't
—
(— s M— y N & pq —=—S •
.
X
J3 J =J— ---- —
give us no rest. He'd take the nic-kels off a dead man's eyes to
I
buy a Co-ca Co-la and a Po-mo pie.
Chorus
thI rniJ7^
I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the W innsb'ro cot-ton m ill blues.
i
W w
Lor-dy, Lor-dy, spool-in's hard: You know and I know, I
“r/ - s s
J 4h
#4 J J — 0 J N —0L—^- -)—
X
-V 4^
don't have to tell, you work for Tom W at-son, got to w ork like hell.
i
m
I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the W innsb'ro cot-ton m ill blues.
88
The complete lyrics to this song are as follows;
Old man Sargent sitting at the desk,

The damned old fool won’t give us no rest.
He’d take the nickels off a dead man’s eyes,^®^
To buy a Coca-Cola and a Pomo Pie.'°®
(Chorus)
When I die, don’t bury me at all,

Just hang me up on the spool-room wall.
Place a knotter in my hand.
So I can spool in the Promised Land.
(Chorus)
When I die, don’t bury me deep.

Bury me down on Six Hundred Street.
Place a bobbin in each hand.
So I can doff^°^ in the Promised Land.
(Chorus)
The verse of this folk tune is characterized by a series of descending root position
triads, eventually ending on a half cadence. The chorus is a repeated ascending
chromatic motive followed by motives from the verse. As in the previous two pieces, the
composer applies slight changes to the original folk tune in his rendition of “Winnsboro
Cotton Mill Blues.” The descending minor ii triad in mm. 5-6 (“He’d take the nickels off
a dead man’s eyes”) becomes a major \ / Y in the North American Ballads, with the
alteration of scale degree 4 to fM . In m. 8 of the melody (“Pomo pie”), Rzewski uses
To remove coins from the eyes of the deceased was considered the lowest form o f thievery.
106 Coca-Cola and Eskimo Pies” is the lyric used in Fowke and Glaser, Songs o f Work
and Protest, 74-75.
A knotter was a gadget used to tie the ends of the yam together.
A doffer took the filled bobbins from the spinning frames.
“” Leisy, 370-371.
89
scale degree B^7 instead of ^7 for more of a blues feel. Incidental melodic changes in
measures 3-4 are illustrated on the Schenkerian graph in Figure 6.3.
A grouping structure analysis, Figure 6.2 (on the following page), shows the
overall structure of this folk melody. The verse is essentially a repeated period ending on
a half cadence in m. 8, comprised of motives a and b. The refrain is a sentence structure
of motives c + c -i- d, followed by a phrase derived from the melodic material of the verse,
and a repeat of the sentence structure.
90
Figure 6.2: Grouping Structure Analysis of “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Folk
Tune in the North American Ballads
A
2
mm. 1 4
I V7
A
A' 5
a b'
mm. 5 8
ii V7
mm. 8 12
I V V IV
A
A" 2
b'
mm. 13 18
IV V7
B'
d'
mm. 18 22
I
I
91
The Schenkerian graph in Figure 6.3 presents the overall melodic and harmonic
direction of this folk tune. Scale degree ^5 is a prominent melodic pitch throughout the
entire song, descending to in the first phrase, and remaining close to ^5 in the second
phrase, with ^6 moving down to ^5. The melody of the chorus ascends chromatically to
^5 three times, before descending to a lowered ^7 on a V7/IV half cadence. Figuration
around ^6 and 6^6 is followed by a return to the opening material, a motion from to
^2. The final phrase of the melody is begins again with a chromatic ascent to '^5 three
times, before finally completing the fundamental line at the very end of the tune, with ^4
implied. The very last note of the tune is the first and only expression of '^l as an
essential structural pitch.
The harmonic framework of this folk tune is the most chromatic of the North
American Ballads, with a tonicization of the dominant in mm. 5-7, a tonicization of the
subdominant in mm. 11-13, and use of mode mixture in mm. 13 (IV) and 14 (iv). At the
end, a primary harmonic progression of I-V-I prevails.
92
Figure 6.3: Schenkerian Analysis of “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” Folk Tune
A A r-A
(6) _ 5 ..............
A
2
i:
D: I
V v /v
(1,7)
------ --------------------------------
----- ^ ^ #
1
W iv
(6)
IV IV
I V I
93
Of the four North American Ballads, this piece is the most programmatic and
effective. Marked “Expressionless, machinelike, marcato, non legato, con grande
precision ritmica, e con intensita costante” this movement begins with an eerie rhythmic
half-step ostinato, mimicking the din of machines in a southern textile mill. The palm-
clusters are notated “black notes only” for the right hand, and “white notes only” for the
left hand. Bell and Olmstead suggest this is a subtle expression of the composer’s
political agenda, the inequality between people resulting from segregation.D Water
fountains and lavatories with signs that read “Colored People Only” and “White People
Only” prevailed in the South during the peak of the textile industry in the first half of the
twentieth century. Even at a soft dynamic level, the hypnotic rumble of these clusters
creates an intense machine-like cacophony which might be classified as motoric
minimalism.D According to Eric Salzmann, tone clusters such as these create “an
intermediate ground between fixed pitch and noise.”0 Palm clusters spanning the interval
of a fifth alternate with the original half-step ostinato and with clusters an octave in
width. Beginning in m. 9, the performer must execute smaller pentatonic clusters with
the right elbow; these emerge above the low ostinato of palm clusters. An E-natural
appears in the upper black-note clusters in m. 19, adding to the pentatonic pattern a blues-
sounding inflection which remains until m. 25. The low ostinato continues alone, this
time with both black and white notes in each hand, producing a more chromatic

Hayashi, 125.
' Salzman, Eric. Twentieth-Century
Twentiet Music: An Introduction. Fourth Edition. (Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2002): 145.
94
cacophony. From m. 25-32, the clusters decrease in size until all that remains are two
alternating half-step dyads.
The next section of this piece is characterized by minimalistic repetitions of a
half-step pattern (C-Dt), followed by a mechanical boogie-woogie ostinato in F major,
which serves not only to continue the imitation of the spooling machines but also
becomes the background accompaniment for the blues tune which is to emerge in m. 51.
This accompanimental figure becomes more chromatic until it begins to imitate the
repetitive noise of moving factory parts in m. 38. From mm. 39-50, this figure is
repeated 36 times as it gradually increases in intensity from p to with a chromatically-
moving tenor voice above the repetitive accompaniment. Interestingly, this passage in
the right hand closely resembles the opening of Rachmaninoffs Second Piano Concerto.
Just as Rzewski expressed the clash between black and white notes at the beginning of
the piece, now he possibly represents clash of two musical traditions: the white Classical
tradition in the right hand, and the black jazz and blues tradition in the left hand.**^
Beginning in mm. 51, Rzewski incorporates the first fragments of the folk tune
melody, which gradually emerge above the boisterous accompaniment. Because the
accompaniment is much louder than the melody itself, a listener can imagine the distant
voices of the textile mill workers rising over the noise of the machinery. Rzewski at one
time revealed that the idea for this final ballad came from the 1979 movie Norma Rae,
starring Sally Field. In this movie. Field (who won an Academy Award for her

"‘’ Lewis, 79.
95
performance) plays a textile mill worker who leads a rally to form a union. In an
interview, Rzewski revealed that he was fascinated by what he referred to as the
“brilliant” soundtrack of the m o v i e . M u c h of the dialogue takes place in the factory
with the voices of the characters struggling to be heard above the noise of the machines.
Hayashi notes, “The important and crucial point for Rzewski was the fact that no matter
how loud the machinery carried on, the conversation was always crystal clear. Now the
challenge lay with the composer to simulate the factory machinery at the piano, while
simultaneously setting the protest tune with clarity and poignancy... Rzewski states that
the piano is, after all, a machine and therefore already lends itself to the depiction.”*'*^ In
mm. 51-58, the composer expresses this idea in the score with the note, “Great care must
be taken to keep the left hand at a constant (extremely loud) level, while maintaining at
the same time the expressive variations in the intensity of the right hand melody, which is
therefore sometimes hardly to be heard.”* T h e composer’s intent here is to reverse the
traditional roles of the pianist’s hands, with the left hand accompaniment now
dominating.**^
Fragments of the folk tune appear in mm. 51-58, after which the boogie-woogie
blues line is presented in both hands a half-step apart (beginning on F and Gk just as at
the beginning of the piece). The composer’s dynamic indication is worth noting: “R.H.
hardly audible at first, gradually crese. to/ ” This percussive and rhythmically-driven
section culminates in alternating chords built from stacked perfect fifths (mm. 68-74)
Hayashi, 124.
"*Ibid.
North American Ballads, 55.
Hayashi, 126.
96
followed byj^m artellato clusters in the right hand and a half-step ostinato in the left
hand at extreme registers of the instrument. These figures crescendo toJSf, the most
extreme dynamic level in the piece, as if both the factory machines and the piano are
being pushed to their limits. An abrupt pause of five measures, mm. 81-85, creates a
magnificent rumbling within the instrument and marks the end of the first half of the
piece.
The second half of this movement begins with an effective and sentimental blues
digression (mm. 86-110). A full statement of the melody occurs in mm. 94-108, while
the remainder of this written-out improvisation refers to, but does not directly quote, the
original folk tune. Rather than following the standard 12-bar blues formula, Rzewski
chooses a 16-bar blues in the style of Pete Seeger,^^^ but with the composer’s more
dissonant harmonic vocabulary. This Gershwin-like variation utilizes grace-note slides
and traditional blues notes, as if the factory workers finally get a break long enough to
sing about their troubles, and dream of a life outside of the mills. Arpeggiated figuration
similar to that used in “Dreadful Memories” returns in mm. 105-107. In m. 108, the
machine-like left hand F-G1» ostinato returns and accompanies the first direct quotation of
the folk tune in Gk major, in mm. 113-116. Rzewski immediately follows this statement
of the theme with a technically demanding and intense development of polytonal
fragments of the tune presented contrapuntally in mm. 116-132. Interestingly, Hayashi
notes, “It is Rzewski’s purpose to make the writing extraordinarily difficult, and almost
impossible. In an interview, Rzewski stated that he puts one or two formidable sections
“ ®Ibid„ 127.
97
into every piano piece ‘to insure that a mediocre pianist cannot play it.’”*^® A repetitive
martellato transition derived from the chorus of the folk tune leads to the last direct
quotation, this time in its entirety, in F major (mm. 136-146) with a return to the boogie-
woogie style left hand accompaniment. A surprising crash of forearm clusters in
measure 147 introduces a return to the grinding ostinato of palm clusters first heard at the
beginning, built on the pitches F and Gk this time fading away into silence at the highest
extreme of the keyboard at the end of the piece. Some have suggested that Rzewski may
have been following the text of one of the versions of the song, where the worker sings
that he or she will still be working in the mills even after death. Larry Bell and Andrea
Olmstead speculate that
The alternating clusters continue and are rhythmically suggestive of the

mechanical spinning referred to throughout the piece. At the end of the piece, this
figure is located in the highest register of the piano and corresponds to the
concluding words of the text; “So I can doff in the Promised Land.” This
moment typifies Rzewski’s unique sense of idiomatic piano writing used to
project the programmatic content suggested by the song’s lyrics.*^*
Rzewski’s Use of Quotation in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”
Rzewski uses 131 quotations of the folk tune in this last and most effective of the
four North American Ballads. The composer most often quotes the opening descending
major triad of the verse, motive a, which appears 39 times. Motive b from the verse is
stated 33 times, and motive c, the ascending chromatic figure from the chorus, is
’^“ Ibid., 128.

98
presented 31 times. Less frequently used are the secondary motives from the chorus,
motive d, quoted 11 times, and motive e, quoted 17 times. Rzewski continues to favor
the upper voices for quotations, with the highest voice used 60 times, not including the
final full statement of the melody at the end. More often than in the other pieces of this
set, the composer presents the folk tune in a homophonic melody and accompaniment
texture, always with the folk tune in an upper voice, above a repetitious and
programmatic left hand ostinato figure. Including the final statement of the tune, a
melody and accompaniment texture is used for 37 of the motives from the tune, while a
contrapuntal texture is used for 85 of the fragments. Thirty-one times the composer
quotes the melody simultaneously in two voices at once, with three quotations appearing
in three voices at once. Within the polyphonic development sections, Rzewski often
presents a motive in parallel fifths (18 times), usually involving only two voices
simultaneously, but twice in three voices concurrently (see mm. 68-69), resulting in a
texture of stacked perfect fifths.
As in all of the North American Ballads, the composer utilizes every tonality for
quotations of the folk tune. Not surprisingly, the keys of F and Gl» are favored, with
fragments appearing in those keys 31 and 25 times, respectively. In fact, these tonalities
represent one third of all quotations used in this piece. Unlike the first three of the North
American Ballads, folk tune quotations in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” seem to be
more tonally focused toward a specific recurring key. Figure 6.4 presents a summary of
the tonalities used by Rzewski in this piece.
99
Figure 6.4: Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill
Blues”

Occurrences Total
C 12 7
G 11 7
D 6 4
A 11 7
E 4 2
B 8 5
Ftt/Gt 25 15
C#/Dt 12 7
Ak 10 6
Et 15 9
B\> 21 13
F 31 18
Totals: 166 100%
In this piece, as in “Which Side Are You On?,” Rzewski teases the listener with
fragments of the original folk tune before presenting it in a clearly recognizable version
near the end. This last movement exemplifies the composer’s most ingenious use of the
cumulative quotation process in the North American Ballads. Rather than providing a
venue for immediate variation or development of the theme as in “Which Side Are You
On?,” the first section of this piece creates the programmatic sound of a textile factory
through tone clusters and hypnotic, minimalistic rhythms. Because the chorus of the folk
tune (“I got the blues...”) is built on an ascending chromatic scale segment, one might
venture that the half steps presented at the beginning of the piece represent the smallest
cell of the folk tune, from the melody of the chorus. That the ostinato at the beginning of
100
this piece is built on Gl> and F, and the only two full quotations of the folk tune are
presented in Gk major and F major, support this conjecture.
In mm. 2, 4, 5, and 7, descending clusters built on F and Gt appear in very low
registers on the keyboard. These triads are quotation fragments from the first part of the
verse of the folk tune. Therefore, although the listener does not hear the first portion of
melody until m. 51, Rzewski manages to represent abstractly both the verse (descending
diatonic triad) and the chorus (ascending chromatic scale) of the “Winnsboro Cotton Mill
Blues” melody from the very beginning of the piece. In mm. 51-58 an outline of the folk
tune is heard, rhythmically ambiguous and virtually overshadowed by the
accompaniment figure in the left hand. As the melody begins to be more recognizable,
Rzewski returns to the ostinato figure. From here, the composer continues to entice the
listener, presenting the melody only in fragments or variation, such as the almost
unidentifiable blues variation beginning in mm. 86. Near the end of the work, in m. 113,
the full verse of the song is finally presented in its full form, but at an extremely low
dynamic level accompanied by the omnipresent ostinato figure. The theme is soon
interrupted, however, and does not recur until m. 136, where both the verse and the
chorus of the entire song is stated at last.
The cumulative method of quotation, used so extensively by Ives, is most strongly
demonstrated in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.” Other compositional processes defined
by Burkholder and used by Rzewski in this work are stylistic allusion, variation, and
programmatic quotation. Stylistic allusion, used in the gospel-style of “Down By the
Riverside,” is used in this last piece in mm. 86-110, as a written-out blues improvisation.
101
While this section does not directly quote folk tune fragments until halfway through, it
alludes to both the melody and the blues style of the song, with jazz harmonies, grace
notes, and improvisational-sounding rhythms. Variation procedure is used in this same
passage, once the melody begins to appear in mm. 96. For the first time in this set of
pieces, Rzewski uses the process of programmatic quotation. Other movements of the
North American Ballads are programmatic to an extent: in “Dreadful Memories” the
composer includes a children’s lullaby at the end, and in “Which Side Are You On?” the
duality of “sides” is expressed by various means, discussed in Chapter IV. In
“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” though, Rzewski uses the folk melody itself to recreate
the scene of workers in a textile mill. Parts of the tune are woven into the machine-like
ostinato patterns, but more significantly, fragments of the melody rise softly above the
din of the motoric accompaniment to represent a chorus of workers singing above the
noise of factory equipment. These programmatic quotations occur in mm. 51-58, 113-
116, and 136-146.
The most virtuosic and remarkable of the North American Ballads, “Winnsboro
Cotton Mill Blues” is an appealing concert piece for any recital program. Ronald Edwin
Lewis notes, “The work incorporates twentieth-century rhythmic and harmonic
techniques such as clusters, rhythmic ostinatos, tempo layering and atonality within
carefully planned formal structures based on traditional variation techniques. It contains
brilliant pianistic effects coupled with complex counterpoint and continuous variation
p r o c e d u r e s . T h e s e effects have earned “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” a place in the
Lewis, 82-83.
102
twentieth-century concert repertoire, making it the most popular movement of the set.
Gerald H. Groemer, in his discussion of the new romanticism in American post-avant-
garde piano music, says,
“Winnsboro cotton mill blues” works on several levels. In the first place it is
clearly a political piece, but it is not a didactic exercise on the “paper plane.”
Rather, it presents its program in an unmistakably audible form, and this program
is one whieh has a broad philosophical and humanistic foundation: man’s ability
to survive in adverse conditions, the struggle of man versus machine, and the
victory attainable by transformation rather than destruction. Whether one holds
Marxist, anarchist, or even capitalist views, this piece transmits a powerful
message. But this message would not be so convincing were it not for the purely
musical success of this work. Avant-garde techniques (clusters, tempo layerings,
atonality), commercial and folk music techniques (hypnotic rhythms, blues
melodies and harmonies) and commonly acknowledged “high art” techniques
(carefully planned large scale formal structure, sophisticated but audible variation
procedures, pianistic effectiveness) are combined in a work which synthesizes
these elements into a larger whole. It is a model of what the new romanticism is
all about.
This piece, as well as all of the North American Ballads, could certainly be categorized as
neo-romantic because of the nature of the keyboard configuration, the technical demands
and the bravura required, the use of extreme dynamics and extreme registers of the
keyboard, the use of a program, and the overall tonal language, all reinterpreted within
the composer’s unique style.
This imaginative programmatic piece brings the North American Ballads to an
effective finish. Kim Hayashi correctly observes that this final movement “will find its
place at the top of the ranks of the repertoire for the piano for its use of traditional
Gerald H. Groemer, Paths to the New Romanticism: Aesthetic and Thought o f the American
Post-Avant-Garde as Exemplified in Selected Tonal Piano Music. (D.M.A. diss., Peabody Conservatory of
Music, 1984): 114.
103
notation and performance with ingenuity and originality to create a piece so unusual,
authentic, and meritorious so as to endure the test of time.”*^'*
Hayashi, 129.
104
CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION: A COMPARISON OF IVES AND RZEWSKI
Many similarities may be found between Charles Ives and Frederic Rzewski.
Both composers were raised in New England (Ives in Connecticut and Rzewski in
Massachusetts), and both studied music at some of the best universities in the United
States (Ives at Yale and Rzewski at Harvard and Princeton). Ives was a virtuoso organist,
and Rzewski is a formidable performer on the piano. Both use musical quotation
extensively, particularly from the American vernacular tradition of folk melodies, hymn
tunes, spirituals, and nationalistic songs (patriotic songs for Ives, protest tunes for
Rzewski). For each composer, these tunes are sometimes used for programmatic content,
but the sophisticated use of quotation takes these pieces to a level beyond that of
program. Burkholder asserts that “Ives’s reworking of existing music is the single most
central technique in his process of creation.”
According to Nehrenberg, Ives was very careful in choosing the tunes that he
quoted in his compositions.^^® Cordes notes, “Ives’s interest was in integrating not only
indigenous American materials but also the American character into his compositions.”
As we have seen, Rzewski also selected the melodies for each of the l^orth American
Ballads with great precision, taking care that each folk tune represented well the portrait
of America he sought to depict in this collection of pieces. Both composers quote tunes

Nehrenberg, 11.
Cordes, 4.
105
that have a strong correspondence to the text of the original melody, and both use
melodies which intentionally epitomize a specifically American experience. Nehrenberg
also notes that the folk tunes in Ives’ pieces often share common musical characteristics
1^8
such as similar scale degrees, melodic shape, or motives, and Gordon Cyr observes that
many of these similarities of motives resemble or are related to the pentatonic s c a l e . I n
the North American Ballads, all of the melodies chosen by Rzewski are similar in their
simple melodic and harmonic structure, and “Dreadful Memories” and “Which Side Are
You On?” in particular are based upon pentatonic and hexatonic scales, respectively.
Quotation itself is an integral component of the compositional styles of both Ives
and Rzewski, and both use to great effect the process of cumulative quotation as defined
by Burkholder. Ives, like Rzewski, would “gradually extend the repeated appearances of
the quotation so that the tune evolves smoothly from a fragment to a completed
quotation.”*^® Another term used by scholars to describe this cumulative method is that
of pre-imitation. Nehrenberg notes, “Pre-imitation is defined as the presence of short
melodic or rhythmic fragments of the quotation which occur prior to its more
recognizable appearance. Pre-imitation may also employ motives, either rhythmic or
melodic, which are similar to the original tune, prior to the sounding of the quotation.”*
This technique of pre-imitation or cumulative quotation was commonly used by Ives
between 1907 and 1920, in such works as the Third Symphony, the four violin sonatas.
Nehrenberg, 12.
Gordon Cyr, “Intevallic Structural Elements in Ives’s Fourth Symphony. Perspectives in New
Music (Sept. - Oct. 1971): 292.
'^“ Nehrenberg, 31.
Ibid., 42.
106
and the First Piano S o n a t a . I n Rzewski’s works, the cumulative process is evident in
“Which Side Are You On?” and “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” from the North
American Ballads. According to Henderson, two categories of quotation exist in the
music of Ives, the incidental and thematic use of melody. As discussed in Chapter 1, the
incidental class of quotation involves the appearance of a brief fragment of a melody
which is relatively unimportant to the structure or meaning of a piece. In the thematic
class, the quotation itself is the principal melodic structure in a section or movement of
the work. The majority of quotations used by Ives may be classified as thematic level,
essential to the foundation of the piece. All four of Rzewski’s North American Ballads
are of the thematic level of quotation, since the folk tune quotations are fundamental to
the structure of the pieces.
Other compositional similarities between these two composers include style
juxtaposition, layering, and the use of counterpoint. Juxtaposition appears in pieces by
Ives and Rzewski when simple tuneful sections are interrupted by highly dissonant
passages, or vice versa, creating sectional structures. The music is characterized by
contrasting textures, styles, or harmonies, with the juxtaposition of tonality or modality
with atonality or extreme dissonance. Ives’ use of layered musical lines, contrasted
through melody, rhythm, texture, or a combination of these, is the principal means by
which he incorporates quoted tunes. Each piece of Rzewski’s North American Ballads
contains one or more highly polyphonic sections, whereby fragments of the folk tune are
presented in polytonal stretto settings. In each piece, in fact, the composer uses every
107
tonality to present the quotations; in “Dreadful Memories,” for example, ten different
tonalities are used within only ten measures of the piece, mm. 25-34 (see Chapter 3).
With regard to counterpoint, Lewis notes, “The complexities found in nearly all
[Rzewski’s] works result from his interest in counterpoint and its ability to reflect a state
of disorder and confusion. The writing takes on a character of great density, as well as
fragmentation. This... reflects his interest in the music of the past, particularly the music
1•30
of J.S. Bach.” Rzewski himself once said.
In writing music it is possible to experience one’s own identity as not merely an

individual, but as a collective. It helps me to find the collective part of myself. I
began to realize that my brain was not a simple thing, but many brains; there are
many people, many individuals in my brain. If you can accept this idea as an
hypothesis, it helps you to understand what polyphony is all about. Instead of
forcing all parts of my brain to function in unison or in smoothly meshed gears, I
try to allow various, different, and conflicting parts of my mind to emerge. What
I’m trying to do in my writing now... is to portray the mess that is inside my own
head instead of trying to force it into a rhetorical, pleasing shape like most
classical music does. I find that no matter how hard I try not to, the order is
always there.
A similar viewpoint of the music of Ives is described by Wilfrid Mellers:
There are, we have seen, two main “positives” in the evolution of American
music in the twentieth century. One we may define as pioneer heroism: Ives’s
desire to make anew the toughness, power, copiousness, triviality and grandeur or
the American scene and spirit... Thus Ives’s music, in accepting the chaos of the
external world, accepts, too, the eclectic variety of the traditional and
untraditional materials of music: but in so far as it re-creates them, it tends to
liberate them into a polymorphous, polymodal, polyrhythmic, polyharmonic flux,
wherein the “outer” life and the “inner” life become one.^^^
Lewis, 121-122.
Ibid., 45.
135 ■
’ Wilfrid Mellers, Music in a New Found Land: Themes and Developments in the History o f
American Music {New York: Knopf, 1965): 102.
108
Another example of these vertical clashes resulting from linear stratification may be seen
in an organ piece by Ives, the Fugue in Four Keys (early 1890s), in which each voice is
presented in a different key. Neither Ives nor Rzewski had much concern for the
harmonic clashes which resulted from the stratification of melodies in various rhythms
and tonalities. Lambert observes that “a texture in a mature work [of Ives] is more likely
to maximize the independence of contrapuntal entities.”
A final similarity between Ives and Rzewski is a diversity of style. Burkholder
observes that Ives “used a wide variety of styles, from tonal Romanticism to radical
1 '^ '7
experimentation, even in pieces written during the same period.” Rzewski’s style is so
diverse that he has been criticized for not having a personal style of his own. Kosman
says.
Rzewski seems almost determinedly difficult to pigeonhole. His music is widely

eclectic in its stylistic allegiances, dabbling liberally in minimalism, serialism,
jazz, chance processes, free improvisation, and music theatre. Some critics have
decried this eclecticism as evidence of the lack of an individual voice, as though a
composer’s reluctance to restrict himself to some particular mode of expression
138
were an artistic shortcoming.
Rzewski himself once said in an interview, “That was one of the things that I’ve always
been disturbed by - worried by - is that I don’t have a style. I finally stopped worrying
1 -IQ
about it, but I still don’t think I have a style. So I’ve just stopped worrying about it.”
Lambert, 36.
137
Burkholder, “Ives, Charles (Edward),” http://www.grovemusic.com (accessed 14 December
2003).
Kosman, 31.
Alburger, 12.
109
Interestingly, this lack of focus on a single style may closely parallel the very nature of
American contemporary music. Elliott Schwartz observes,
Multiplicity dominates the American musical scene. By this I mean that the
major characteristic to be considered in any discussion of new American music is
the very fact of diversity itself, so much so that summary generalizations about the
music become meaningless. It is certainly difficult to speak of an American
“style.” If there is such a style, its strongest feature - paradoxically - is
eclecticism, variety, over-saturation. In other words, the absence of a single,
focused profile - or perhaps the piling up of a dozen different profiles - is the
most vivid image of American music we have.^"^*^
By not concentrating on a single approach to music composition, Rzewski epitomizes the
quintessential American composer.
While a great many stylistic similarities exist between Rzewski and Ives, there are
a few differences worth identifying. With the use of compositional layering, Ives very
often uses a quotation in a single layer, and according to Burkholder, the layers created
by Ives involve a hierarchy based on im p o rta n c e .O fte n the significance of the
quotation is revealed by the prominence of the layer in which it is found. In Rzewski’s
North American Ballads, however, quotations are used in every layer of a polyphonic
setting, since the folk tune itself is the essential melodic component of the piece. Also,
even though both Ives and Rzewski tend towards programmatic compositions, for Ives
these associations did not always inspire his original works, but were described in later
commentaries such as his Essays Before a Sonata and Memos. Some scholars speculate
that since many of Ives’ programmatic descriptions were written long after the music was
Elliott Schwartz, “The Gamut of American Music,” Music and Musicians XXI (November,
1972): 20.
110
composed, the programs may not reflect true inspiration for these pieces. It may have
been that Ives felt his audience needed some guidance in the form of a tangible program,
in order to make his rather difficult style more accessible. Ballantine observes, “It seems
that Ives also composed works in which it is difficult to know whether the quoted
melodies are intended to carry any associations - or any associations beyond a
generalized American c h a r a c te r .R z e w s k i, on the other hand, clearly has a program in
mind in the North American Ballads, particularly in “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.”
Scholars are fortunate to have access to accurate information in the form of current
interviews from this living composer.
The history of musical borrowing parallels the evolution of style in Western art
music, an unfolding which reached its peak in twentieth-century America with composers
such as Charles Ives and Frederic Rzewski. With these composers, the chasm that often
exists between art music and folk music is narrowed, creating an art form which is at
once universal and personal. By incorporating folk elements into works such as the
North American Ballads, Rzewski attempts to recall the past, in an effort to make his
music more accessible to a larger audience. This use of musical borrowing is not only
an interesting element of Western art music, it is essential to its very existence.
Ballantine aptly notes,
No musical style begins ab ovo. In the history of Western music, the emergence
of a new style is marked by an incessant process of rupture, as each new piece
simultaneously situates itself in an already-formed style and tears itself free of
Nehrenberg, 7.
Ballantine, 177.
Lewis, 121.
I ll
that style. The new piece is defined partly in terms of the distance it manages to
put between itself and the stylistic type that characterizes it. To this extent,
parody is fundamental to all art - indeed to all communication - since each new
work of art must in some way follow established precedent.
The style of composer Frederic Rzewski is eclectic and ever-evolving. David
Burge says,
Basic to his music seems to be a tremendous need to communicate ideas and

feelings by using whatever musical system is appropriate, always adhering to the
idea that no matter how free the musical concept, there must be formal coherence
for it to be convincing. Neoclassicism, serialism, chance music, jazz, rock, and
folk music are all ingredients in this art, as was the ideological breakthrough,
unique to the 1970s, that declared that no specific procedure need be adhered to
exclusively; that, in fact, there are no mutually exclusive musical territories.
One consistent philosophy in Rzewski’s music is that of the duality of life itself: he
regularly juxtaposes spontaneity and logical thought, individualism and unity, revolution
and peace, universality and nationalism. Rzewski’s distinctive voice, a blend of
American ethnicity with traditional Romantic and contemporary styles, creates a style
which is both accessible and timeless.
Ballantine, 167.
Burge, 232-233.
112
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117
APPENDIX A
IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS OF AMERICAN FOLK TUNES

IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF CHARLES IVES
This supplementary information indicates the tune and the piano work or works by Ives
containing the quote. The following information is taken from The Charles Ives
Tunebook by Clayton W. Henderson (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 1990), pp. 203-
206. The tunes below are listed alphabetically.
Song Title Work(s)
“Alexander” Studies (1907-708) - [March:] Slow allegro or Fast andante
“America” Three Quarter-Tone Pieces fo r Two Pianos (1923-24)

3. Chorale
“Annie Lisle” March No. 5 (1892)
“Antioch” Studies (1907-708) - Some South-Paw Pitching
“The Battle Cry Three Quarter-Tone Pieces fo r Two Pianos (1923-24)

of Freedom” 2. Allegro
“Battle Hymn of Studies (1907-708) - [March:] Slow allegro or Fast andante

the Republic”
“Bingo” March No. 6 (1892-797)
“Bringing in the Sheaves” First Piano Sonata (1901-09)
“College Hornpipe” Waltz-Rondo (1911)
“Columbia, the Gem Waltz-Rondo (1911)

of the Ocean”
Second Piano Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860"
(I91I-I915) (II. Hawthorne)
(I9 II-I9 I6 )
“Even Me” Studies (1907-708) - Study in major and minor intensities
“Erie” First Piano Sonata (1901-09)
118
“Fisher's Hornpipe” Waltz-Rondo (1911)
“The Girl I Left Behind Me” Studies (1907-708) - [March:] Slow allegro or Fast andante
‘Happy Day’ Set o f Five Take-Offs {A. Scene-Episode) (1906-07)
First Piano Sonata (1901-09)
Three Quarter-Tone Pieces fo r Two Pianos (1923-24)

2. Allegro
Drum Corps or Scuffle (for piano, four hands) (1902)
“Home! Sweet Home!’ Studies (1907-708)
“I've Been Working Studies (1907-708) - [March:] Slow allegro or Fast andante
on the Railroad”
“Lebanon” First Piano Sonata (1901-09)
“Marching Through Waltz-Rondo (1911)

Georgia”
“Martyn” Second Piano Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860"

(1911-1915) (II. Hawthorne)
“Massa's in de Studies (1907-708) - Some South-Paw Pitching

Cold Ground”
Second Piano Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860"
(1911-1915) (IV. Thoreau)
The Celestial Railroad (71924-725)
“Missionary Chant” Second Piano Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860"

(1911-1915) (III. TheAlcotts)
“Omega Lambda Chi’ March No. 3 (71892)
“Proprior Deo” Three-Page Sonata (1905)
“Son of a Cambolier” March [No. 2] (71892)
“Stop that Knocking Second Piano Sonata "Concord, Mass., 1840-1860"

at My Door” (1911-1915) (III. TheAlcotts)
119
“That Old Cabin Home March No. 1 (71890)
Upon the Hill”
“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” The Celestial Railroad (71924-725)

“Turkey in the Straw” Studies (1907-708) - [March:] Slow allegro or Fast
andante;
Waltz-Rondo (1911)
“Welcome Voice” First Piano Sonata (1901-09)
“Westminster Chimes” Three-Page Sonata (1905)
“Where is My Wandering First Piano Sonata (1901-09)

Boy?”
“The White Cockade” Waltz-Rondo (1911)
“Year of Jubilee” March No. 1 (71890)
120
APPENDIX B
THE SOLO PIANO MUSIC OF FREDERIC RZEWSKI
Chain o f Thought (1953)

Tabakrauch (Tobacco Leaves) (1954)
Preludes (1956)
Poem (1958)
Study (1960)
Study n { \ 9 6 \ )
Falling Music (1971)
No Place To Go But Around (1974)
The People United Will Never Be Defeated] (1976)
Four Pieces (1977)
Squares (1978)
North American Ballads (1979)
Eggs (1986)
The Turtle and the Crane (1988)
Mayn Yingele (1988)
Short Fantasy on “Give Peace a Chance” (1989)
Bumps (1990)
Ludes (book 1 1990, book 21991)
Sonata (1991)
De profundis (1992)
Andante con moto (1992)
A Life (1992)
Fougues(1994)
The Road (1995-2002):
Turns (1995)
Tracks (1996)
Tramps (1997)
Stops (1998)
A Few Knocks (1999)
Traveling with Children (1999)
Final Preparations (2002)
121
APPENDIX C
LIST OF WORKS CONTRUCTED ON AMERICAN FOLK TUNES

IN THE PIANO MUSIC OF FREDERIC RZEWSKI
‘Down by the Riverside’’ North American Ballads (1979)
“Dreadful Memories’ North American Ballads
‘It Makes a Long-Time Man Feel Bad” Long Time Man (1979)
‘No Place to go But Around’ Variations on “No Place to go

But Around” (1974)
‘Which Side Are You On?” North American Ballads
‘Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” North American Ballads
122
APPENDIX D
WORDS AND MUSIC TO THE FOLK SONGS QUOTED IN

FREDERIC RZEWSKI’S NORTH AMERICAN BALLADS
1. “Dreadful Memories’
fc------- s — S ------
i- 9 • « • « -h -
Li— J J — 0 •
Dreadful memories! How they linger,
How they pain my precious soul!
_ —
s— s—
f # # =
t P L )0• J • « i—
L _ J •
— 0
Little children, sick and hungry.
^\> r- ^
r .............-w...
~ ] ^
Sick and hungry, weak and cold.
The subsequent verses of this song are as follows:

Without any food at all to eat.
They had no clothes to put on their bodies,
They had no shoes to put on their feet.
Dreadful memories! How they linger,

How they fill my heart with pain.
Oh, how hard I’ve tried to forget them.
But I find it all in vain.
123
I can’t forget them little babies.
With golden hair as soft as silk.
Slowly dying from starvation.
Their parents could not give them milk.
I can’t forget them coal miners’ children

That starved to death for want of milk.
While the coal operators and their wives and their children
Were all dressed in jewels and silk.
Dreadful memories! How they haunt me

As the lonely moments fly.
Oh, how them little babies suffered!
I saw them starve to death and die.*'^^
A different verse is supplied by Bell and Olmstead:
Hungry fathers, wearied mothers

Living in these dreadful shacks
With no clothing on their backs.
Lewis, 69-70.
124
2. “Which Side Are You On?’
£ 0 0 0
1
Come all of you good workers, Good news to you I'll tell. Of
0 ~ 0
how the good old union has come in here to dwell.

Chorus:
Which side are you on? Which side are you on?
We’ve started our good battle.

We know we’re sure to win,
Because we’ve got the gun thugs
A-lookin’ very thin.
(The chorus is repeated after every verse)
They say they have to guard us

To educate their child
Their children lives in luxury.
Our children’s almost wild.
With pistols and with rifles

They take away our bread.
And if you miners hinted it.
They’ll sock you on the head.
If you go up to Harlan County

There is no neutral there.
You’ll either be a union man
or a thug for J. H. Blair.
125
Oh gentlemen, can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can?
Will you be a gun thug
My daddy was a miner,

He is now in the air and sun,^"*^
He’ll be with you fellow workers.
Until the battle’s won/^°
Additional verses for this song are supplied by The Ballad o f America collection:
My daddy was a miner.

And I’m a miner’s son
And I’ll stick with the union
Till every battle’s won.
Oh workers, can you stand it?

Oh tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab.
Don’t scab for the bosses.

Don’t listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance
Unless we organize.
Blacklisted and without a job.

Lyrics in Lomax, 176-177.
Scott, 342.
126
3. “Down By the Riverside’
w— w
3
Gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside.
♦— 0 I
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside. Gonna
i
0 0‘ 0
lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside, I
IChorus:
i £
ain't gonna stu-dy war no more.
I
0—0 0 0
0' ^ 0—
Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gonna study war no more. Ain't gonna
0-0 0—
0
stu - dy war no more. Ain't gonna study war no more, ain't gonna
study war no more. I ain't gonna stu - dy war no more.
127
I’m gonna talk with the Prince of Peace, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside, down hy the riverside.
I’m gonna talk with the Prince of Peace, down by the riverside.
Ain’t gonna study war no more.
(Chorus is repeated after every verse)
I’m gonna stick my sword in the golden sand, etc.
I’m gonna shake hands with every man, etc.
I’m gonna walk with my brothers in peace, etc.
I’m gonna make love, make love, not war, etc.
I’m gonna put on my freedom robe, etc.
Whitman, 152-153, and Fowke and Glaser, 85-86.
128
4. “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”
^ 4 — V - V -
s s m f -
4 J 4
0
Old m anSar-gent, sit-ting at the desk, the damned old fool won't
^ , Ii j j j
iw
0 •
give us no rest.
0LJ&
He'd take the nic-kels off a

0—0
dead man's eyes to
i
buy a Co-ca Co-la and a Po-mo pie.
— — —
tL J ___
IZ2 i-J; —
■^ J Ji 0 —
\—0 1— J
3
I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the Winnsb'ro cot-ton mill blues.
dH i ^1— V
/ -
(— I 4 4 4
4
0i— J J — 0 J •
Lor-dy, Lor-dy, spool-in's hard: You know and I know, I
don't have to tell, you work for Tom Wat-son, got to work like hell.
^ ...
I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the Winnsb'ro cot-ton mill blues.
129
The complete lyrics to this song are as follows:
Old man Sargent sitting at the desk,

The damned old fool won’t give us no rest.
He’d take the nickels off a dead man’s eyes,^^^
To buy a Coca-Cola and a Pomo Pie.'^"^
(Chorus)
When I die, don’t bury me at all.

Just hang me up on the spool-room wall.
Place a knotter*^^ in my hand.
So I can spool in the Promised Land.
(Chorus)
When I die, don’t bury me deep.

Bury me down on Six Hundred Street.
Place a bobbin in each hand.
So I can doff^^^ in the Promised Land.
(Chorus)*^'^
To remove coins from the eyes of the deceased was considered the lowest form of thievery.
“To buy Coca-Cola and Eskimo Pies” is the lyric used in Fowke and Glaser, 74-75.
A knotter was a gadget used to tie the ends of the yam together.
A doffer took the filled bobbins from the spinning frames.
Leisy, 370-371.
130
APPENDICES E-H: INTRODUCTION
The following appendices contain a systematic record of all quotations found in
each movement of the North American Ballads. Each quotation or quotation fragment is
listed in the order in which it appears, with the exception of simultaneous statements,
which are presented from highest to lowest register. The motives indicated are consistent
with the grouping structure analyses for each folk melody, illustrated in Chapters 3-6, and
the length of each quotation is expressed by its number of pitches. If the melody from
another movement of the Ballads is quoted, an abbreviation of the title of that folk tune is
indicated. Voice designations, used to determine the registers preferred by the composer,
are assigned with the general labels SATB. Soprano quotations are those which appear in
the highest sounding voice, bass quotations in the lowest sounding voice, and the terms
alto and tenor are used for inner-voice quotations, depending on the general register and
number of voices present. Quotations which begin in one voice but end in another are
separated by a dash (e.g. T-B), and those which occur simultaneously in more than one
voice are indicated with slashes (e.g. T/B or S/T/B). The tonality of each quotation refers
to the tonal center of the melody itself, rather than the harmonic context in which it
appears. Each quotation is classified according to its surrounding texture, with melody
and accompaniment, contrapuntal, and chordal textures appearing most frequently. A
texture is considered to be imitative rather than contrapuntal if a single quotation is
immediately followed by another which seems to directly mimic or answer the former, in
a different voice. Other characteristics indicated in these appendices include: the
appearance of a complete quotation of the folk melody; simultaneous quotations; motivic
131
variation such as augmentation, diminution, elision, repetition, or octave displacement;
octave doublings (which, although concurrent, are not counted as separate quotations);
parallel statements of the same quotation on different tonal levels; stretto technique;
ornamentation or alteration; or other unusual or salient features.
132
■CD—
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oCD
Q.
■CDD
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(/) APPENDIX E
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DREADFUL MEMORIES’

O
O
■D Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
cq' (# of pitches) (SATB)
I X 4 S At melody/acc. full quote

2 x’ 4 S At melody/acc. full quote
3-4 y 7 s At melody/acc. full quote
5 X 4 s At melody/acc. full quote
CD
—
i 6 x’ 4 s At melody/acc. full quote
CD
■—
Di 7-8 y’ 7 s At melody/acc. full quote
O
o. 8-9 X 5 s At melody/acc. second full quote
c
a 10 x’ 4 s At melody/acc. second full quote
o U> 10-12 y 9 s At melody/acc. second full quote
■—
D 12-13 5 s At melody/acc. second full quote
Oi X
14 x’ 5 s At melody/acc. second full quote

CD
Q.
14-16 y’ 9 s At melody/acc. second full quote
16-17 X 6 s At melody/acc. third full quote
18 x’ 4 s At melody/acc. third full quote
■CDD 19-20 y 6 s At melody/acc. third full quote
21 X 4 s At melody/acc. third full quote
(/) 22 x’ 4 s At melody/acc. third full quote
(/)
23-24 y’ 7 s At melody/acc. third full quote
25-26 y 7 s Gt imitative
26 y 4 T D imitative
26-27 X 3 s Dt contrapuntal
27 x’ 4 A-T D contrapuntal
27-28 y 4 B B contrapuntal
■CD—
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(/) APPENDIX E, CONTINUED

O
O
■D
cq '
Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
(# of pitches) (SATB)
28 x’ 4 S Ak contrapuntal F# pedal
28-29 y 7 T F contrapuntal F# pedal
O ’ 29-30 y’ 7 S A contrapuntal F# pedal
CD
—
i 29-30 X 4 A A contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 30 x’ 4 B D contrapuntal
O
o. 30-31 y’ 7 S Di>/a contrapuntal
c 30-31 X 4 A E contrapuntal
a
o U 31-32 7 T G contrapuntal
4s), y
■—
D 31-32 X 4 S/A E contrapuntal
Oi
32-33 y’ 7 B D contrapuntal
CD 32-33 y’ 6 S Ak contrapuntal
Q.
33-34 y 5 T E contrapuntal
34 y’ 3 A C contrapuntal
35 X 4 S A1 repeated-note
■CDD 35 x’ 4 S Al repeated-note blues variation
(/) 36 X 4 s A1 repeated-note
(/) 36 x’ 4 s A1 repeated-note blues variation
45 y 7 T C melody/acc. 3 VC . simult.; fig.
45 y 7 T Bl> melody/acc. 3 VC . simult.; fig.
45 y 7 B E melody/acc. 3 VC . simult.; fig.
46 y’ 7 S at/blues melody/acc. 3 VC . simult
46 y’ 7 A d/blues melody/acc. 3 VC . simult
46 y’ 7 A c/blues melody/acc. 3 VC . simult.; fig.
■CD—
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o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
■D
cq '
47 x’ 4 B e/blues melody/acc. octave doubled; fig.

48 X 4 S/A e/blues melody/acc. octave doubled; fig.
O ’ 49 y 4 S Al> contrapuntal
CD
—
i 49-50 y 7 B B contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 50 y 7 S B contrapuntal diminution; figuration
O
o. 50 X 4 S F contrapuntal
c 4 A Dt contrapuntal diminution; figuration
a 50 y
o 50-51 7 B A contrapuntal
LTi y
■—
D 50-51 7 A G contrapuntal diminution; figuration
Oi y
51 x’ 4 S C« contrapuntal
CD 51 y 7 A A contrapuntal diminution; figuration
Q.
51 y 7 A B contrapuntal diminution; figuration
51 y 7 A C contrapuntal
52 X 4 S B contrapuntal
■CDD 4 T D contrapuntal
52 y
(/) 53 X 4 A A contrapuntal
(/) 53-54 4 A E contrapuntal
y
53-54 X 4 T Bt contrapuntal
53-54 x’ 4 B d contrapuntal
53-54 X 4 S E contrapuntal
54 x’ 4 A B contrapuntal
54-55 x’ 4 S A contrapuntal
54-55 y 7 T Fl/Gt contrapuntal elision
■CD—
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O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
cq '
55-56 y 7 B G contrapuntal
55-56 X 4 S El contrapuntal
55-56 y 6 A B contrapuntal
O ’ 55-56 x’ 4 T F contrapuntal
CD
—
i 56-57 X 3 B Cl contrapuntal elision
CD
■—
Di 57 x’ 4 T/B Cl contrapuntal octave doubled
O
o. 58 y’ 4 A Cl contrapuntal figuration
c T/B contrapuntal
a 58-59 y 4 G
o 59-60 7 A FI contrapuntal
y
■—
D 60 7 B Bb contrapuntal
Oi y
60 y’ 7 S El. contrapuntal
CD 60-61 y 5 B At contrapuntal elision
Q.
61-64 y 7 B F i/a contrapuntal augmentation
61 y’ 5 S D contrapuntal
62 y’ 3 A F contrapuntal
■CDD
62-63 y’ 7 5 Dt contrapuntal
(/) 62-63 x’ 4 A Dt contrapuntal
(/)
63-64 x’ 3 S Dt contrapuntal augmentation
63-64 x+x’ 5 A At contrapuntal elision
64 y’ 3 S FI contrapuntal
65 x’ 3 S F contrapuntal
68 X 4 B G repeated-note
68 X 4 B C repeated-note chromatic inflection
■CD—
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O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
■D
Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture . Other
cq '
69 y 3 S D pointillistic
69 x’ 3 S B pointillistic
70 x’ 3 S F contrapuntal
O ’
CD
—
i 70 x’ 3 S G contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 70 x’ 3 A FI contrapuntal
O
o. 70 y 4 B Bl> contrapuntal augmentation
c 70 3 S C contrapuntal elision
a y’
o 70-71 7 A E contrapuntal
y’
■—
D 71 y 4 S C contrapuntal
Oi
72 X 4 A A contrapuntal
CD 73 X 4 A A contrapuntal
Q.
74 X 4 A A contrapuntal
74-75 X 4 B/T B contrapuntal
75-76 y 7 S G contrapuntal
■CDD 76 4 B G contrapuntal
y’
78 y 7 S B melody/acc. lullaby; meter change
(/)
(/)
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDo
C/)
(/) APPENDIX F
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?’

O
■O
D
cq '
1 X 5 S f unaccompanied
1-2 y 4 B el? contrapuntal
O’ 2 X 5 S U contrapuntal
CD
—
i 2 y 4 A g contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 2 a 5 B e contrapuntal
O
o. 2 X 4 S fit contrapuntal
c contrapuntal augmentation
a 2-3 y 4 A g
o 3-4 b 6 B d contrapuntal
■—
D 00
Oi 3-4 X 5 S a contrapuntal
4 X 3 B at contrapuntal
CD 4-5 b 6 A g contrapuntal
Q .
4-8 b+y 6 - t6 B fit contrapuntal augmentation
5 X 5 S fit contrapuntal
5-6 b 6 T bt contrapuntal
■CDD
5-6 b 6 A e contrapuntal
(/) 6 b 5 S a contrapuntal
(/)
6-7 b 6 A f contrapuntal
6-7 X 5 S c contrapuntal
7 y 5 T f contrapuntal
7 X 4 A at contrapuntal
7 a 7 S a contrapuntal
7-8 b 7 A ctt contrapuntal
8-9 y 6 T g contrapuntal
CD
■—
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O
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c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
(/) APPENDIX F, CONTINUED

O
■O
D Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
cq' (# of pitches) (SATB)
8-10 b -i-y 1 +6 S e contrapuntal octave displacement

9-10 X 5 B c contrapuntal augmentation
10 X 5 S b contrapuntal
10 y 5 A-T a contrapuntal
CD
—
i lO-II y 5 A 6> contrapuntal
CD
■D II X 5 B dt contrapuntal
O
—i
o. II X 5 T X contrapuntal
c II 5 S a contrapuntal
a b
o 12-14 4 S fit contrapuntal 4 voices simult.
VO y
■—
D 12-14 4 A J contrapuntal 4 voices simult.
Oi y
12-14 y 4 A alt contrapuntal 4 voices simult.
CD 12-14 y 4 A e contrapuntal 4 voices simult.
Q.
12-13 X 5 T hi. contrapuntal
13-14 X 5 T e contrapuntal
15-16 X 5 T bt imitative
■CDD
15-16 y 5 B et imitative
(/) 16-17 X 5 T bl> imitative
(/)
17-18 X 5 T b^ imitative
18-19 X 5 S el> imitative elision
18-19 X 5 T U imitative
18-19 y 4 B 6> imitative augmentation
■CD—
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O
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oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?”

O
O
■D
cq '
19 y 4 S el> imitative elision

19-21 b 5 B el> imitative augmentation
O ’ 19-20 b 5 S el> imitative
CD
—
i 22 X 5 S bt chordal 3 voices simult.
CD
■—
Di 22 X 5 A d chordal 3 voices simult.
O
o. 22 X 5 B b chordal 3 voices simult.
c U chordal 4 voices simult.
a 23 y 5 S
o 23 5 A chordal 4 voices simult.
o y g
■—
D 23 5 T d chordal 4 voices simult.
Oi y
23 y 5 B b chordal 4 voices simult.
CD 24 X 5 S U chordal 2 voices simult.
Q.
24 X 5 A d chordal 2 voices simult.
24 X 5 T fit chordal 2 voices syncop.
24 X 5 B b chordal 2 voices syncop.
■CDD chordal 4 voices simult.
25 y 5 S b
(/) 25 y 5 A e chordal 4 voices simult.
(/) T c chordal 4 voices simult.
25 y 5
25 y 5 B a chordal 4 voices simult.
25-26 a 7 S b imitative full quote
26-27 a 7 A e imitative full quote
26-27 b 6 S b imitative full quote
27-28 b 6 A e imitative full quote
27-28 b 7 S b imitative full quote
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
■O
D
cq '
28-29 b 7 A e imitative full quote

28-29 y 6 S b imitative full quote
O’ 29-30 y 6 A e imitative full quote
CD
—
i 30 X 5 S b imitative full quote; grace note
CD
■—Di 30-31 X 5 A e imitative full quote; grace note
O 31 y 5 S b imitative full quote; grace note
co. 31-32 5 A e imitative full quote; grace note
a y
o 32 X 5 T b imitative full quote; grace note
■—
D 32-33 X 5 A b imitative augmentation
Oi
32-33 X 5 B-T e imitative full quote; grace note
CD 33 y 5 B b imitative full quote; grace note
Q.
33-34 y 5 T e imitative full quote; grace note
34 y 4 S e contrapuntal
34 X 4 B cS contrapuntal aug.; syncop.; 3 vc.
■CDD 34 X 4 T e contrapuntal aug.; syncop.; 3 vc.
34 X 4 T g* contrapuntal aug.; syncop.; 3 vc.
(/)
(/) 34 4 S f contrapuntal
y
34 y 4 S c contrapuntal
34 X 4 A d contrapuntal augmentation
34-35 y 4 T el> contrapuntal augmentation
34-35 X 4 S fS contrapuntal elision
35 y 4 B g contrapuntal aug.; syncop.; 2 vc.
35 y 4 T d contrapuntal aug.; syncop.; 2 vc.
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
■D
cq '
35 y 4 A f contrapuntal grace note

35 y 4 T U contrapuntal augmentation
O ’ 35 y 4 S ft contrapuntal elision
CD
—
i 35 y 4 S b contrapuntal elision
CD
■—
Di 35 X 5 A g contrapuntal
O
o. 35-36 y 5 S g contrapuntal
c 36-37 4 s c contrapuntal augmentation; elision
a y
o 37 4 A d contrapuntal
NJ y
■—
D 38 4 T d contrapuntal
Oi
X
38 y 4 A a contrapuntal elision
CD 38-39 y 4 A-T d contrapuntal elision
Q.
39 X 4 T e contrapuntal elision
39-40 X 4 T b contrapuntal elision
40 X 4 A fit contrapuntal elision
■CDD 40-41 x(z) 4 B b contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc.
(/) 40-41 x(z) 4 T d contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc.
(/) 40-41 x(z) 4 B e contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc.
40-41 x(z) 4 T g contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc.
41 y 4 S fit contrapuntal
41-42 x(z) 4 B a contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc.
41-42 x(z) 4 T c contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc. simult.
42 x(z) 4 B d contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc. simult.
42 x(z) 4 T f contrapuntal overlap; 2 vc. simult.
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
■O
D Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
cq '
42 y 4 S et contrapuntal
42 X 4 S at contrapuntal
42 X 4 s c contrapuntal 2 voices simult.
O’ 42 X 4 A et contrapuntal 2 voices simult.
CD
—
i 43 X 5 B b contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
CD
■—
Di 43 X 5 T d contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
O
o. 43 X 5 T fit contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
c
a 44 y 4 B e contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
o 44 4 T contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
y g
■—
D 44 4 T b contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
Oi y
44-45 y (z) 4 B b contrapuntal overlap
CD 45 y 4 S g# contrapuntal
Q.
46-48 X 4 B c contrapuntal augmentation
46-48 X 4 A et contrapuntal augmentation
47-49 x(z) 4 B f contrapuntal augmentation; overlap
■CDD
48-50 X 4 S et contrapuntal augmentation
(/) 48-49 y 4 T g contrapuntal
(/) et augmentation
48-50 y 5 A contrapuntal
49-50 y 4 T bt contrapuntal
51 X 4 S S melody/acc. g# Aeolian
51 y 5 S dt melody/acc. g# Aeolian; elision
52-53 y 4 A e melody/acc. g# Aeolian; aug.
53 y 5 A g* melody/acc. g# Aeolian
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIHED QUOTATIONS: “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?"

O
O
■D
cq '
54 y 4 A gS melody/acc. g# Aeolian; aug.

55 X+ y 4+4 S g^ melody/acc.
O ’ 55-56 X+ y 4+4 S g* melody/acc. elision
CD
—
i 56-57 y 4 A g* melody/acc.
CD
■—Di 60 X 4 T f contrapuntal
O 60-61 4 S a contrapuntal 2 voices simult.
co. y
a 60-61 y 4 A fl contrapuntal 2 voices simult.
o 61-62 X 5 B f contrapuntal
■—
D 62-63 5 T d contrapuntal
Oi X
63 X 4 B b contrapuntal
CD 63 y 4 S c contrapuntal
Q.
64 y 4 B et contrapuntal
64 y 4 T b contrapuntal
64 y 4 A a contrapuntal
■CDD
64 y 4 S fl contrapuntal
(/) 64 X 4 A at contrapuntal
(/)
65 X 4 B bt contrapuntal aug.; 8ve doubled
65 y 4 S f# contrapuntal
65 b 6 S e contrapuntal octave doubled
65 b 5 T c# contrapuntal
66-67 a 5 S/T c chordal 4 vc.; 8ve doubled
66-67 a 5 A et chordal 4 voices simult.
66-67 a 5 T/B e chordal 4 vc.; 8ve doubled
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
cq '
66-67 a 5 T g chordal 4 voices simult.

67 b 6 S g* contrapuntal octave doubled
67-68 y 4 A a contrapuntal
O ’ 69-70 y 4 A cti contrapuntal
CD
—
i 70-71 y 4 B fit contrapuntal elision
CD
■—Di 71-73 b+y 7-t-5 S ctt melody/acc. tremelo
O 73-74 4 S melody/acc. tremelo; 2 vc. simult.
co. y fit
a 73-74 y 4 A d melody/acc. tremelo; 2 vc. simult.

o 74 4 T contrapuntal
L /i y g
■—
D 74-75 4 S/B d chordal 4 vc.; 8ve doubled
Oi y
74-75 y 4 A g^ chordal 4 voices simult.
CD 74-75 y 4 A et chordal 4 voices simult.
Q.
74-75 y 4 T at chordal 4 voices simult.
75 X 4 B bt single melody
75 x(z) 6 S b parallel
■CDD
75 x(z) 6 B bb parallel
(/) 76 y (z) 6 S c parallel
(/)
76 y (z) 6 B b parallel
78 X 4 S-A g contrapuntal
78 y 4 T-B g* contrapuntal
78 y 4 S g contrapuntal
78 X 4 T fit contrapuntal
78 y 4 A e contrapuntal
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?"

O
O
■D
cq '
78 X 4 A-S c contrapuntal
O ’ 78 X 4 A e contrapuntal
CD
—
i 78-79 y 4 A b contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 79 a 4 S b chordal 6 voices simult.
O
o. 79 a 3 A f chordal 6 voices simult.
c 79 a 3 A d chordal 6 voices simult.
a
o 79 a 3 T gt chordal 6 voices simult.
■—
D 79 a 3 T dt chordal 6 voices simult.
Oi
79 a 3 B bt chordal 6 voices simult.
CD 79 b 6 S b chordal 6 voices simult.
Q.
79 b 5 A g chordal 6 voices simult.
79 b 5 A d chordal 6 voices simult.
79 b 5 T cl chordal 6 voices simult.
■CDD 5 T chordal 6 voices simult.
79 b g*
(/) 79 b 5 B e chordal 6 voices simult.
(/) 6 S b chordal 3 voices simult.
79 b
79 b 5 A d chordal 3 voices simult.
79 b 5 B bt chordal 3 voices simult.
80-81 a 4 B bt contrapuntal aug.; 8ve doubh
80 X 4 S b contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
80 X 4 A e contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
■O
D
cq '
80 X 4 A c contrapuntal 3 voices simult.

81 X 4 S b contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
O’ 81 X 4 A d contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
CD
—
i 81 X 4 A g* contrapuntal 3 voices simult.
CD
■—
Di 82 y 4 S b chordal 5 voices simult.
O
o. 82 y 4 A g chordal 5 voices simult.
c 82 4 T d chordal 5 voices simult.
a y
o 82 4 T U chordal 5 voices simult.
■--a
y
■—
D 82 4 B g chordal 5 voices simult.
Oi y
82 y 4 T c contrapuntal
CD 82-83 y 4 T d contrapuntal
Q.
82-83 X 4 B U contrapuntal
83-85 a 5 T b contrapuntal
84 X 4 S b contrapuntal
■CDD A e contrapuntal
84 y 4
(/) 84-85 X 4 A e contrapuntal elision
(/) 85 X 4 S b contrapuntal
85 a 3 T b contrapuntal
85 y 4 B e contrapuntal
85 X 3 B e contrapuntal elision
85-86 X 4 S e contrapuntal
86-87 y 4 B el> contrapuntal octave doubled
87-89 a 3 B d contrapuntal aug.; octave doi
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
o
CD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
cq '
87 y 5 S/A fit chordal 5 voices; varied

87 y 5 A ai chordal 5 voices; varied
87 y 4 A ctt chordal 5 voices; varied
O ’ 87 y 4 T a chordal 5 voices; varied
CD
—
i 87 y 4 T f chordal 5 voices; varied
CD
■—Di 89 y 4 S gtt contrapuntal
O 91 5 S b parallel
co. y
a 91 y 5 A et parallel
o S/B c parallel octave doubled
4^ 92 x(z) 6
■—
D 00
93 6 S/A c parallel octave doubled
Oi y (z)
94 x(z) 6 S/A c parallel octave doubled
CD 95 y (z) 6 S/B c parallel octave doubled
Q.
96-126 x(z) 6 B c figuration variation; repetition
127 X 4 S/A/T/B c chordal 4 octaves
127 X 4 A/T d> chordal octave doubled
■CDD
127-130 X 4 B et antiphonal aug.; octave doubled
(/) 128 y 4 S/A c chordal 3 vc.; octave doubled
(/)
128 y 4 A et chordal 3 voices simult.
128 y 4 T at chordal 3 voices simult.
129 X 4 sn ’ c chordal 4 vc.; octave doubled
129 X 4 A at chordal 4 voices simult.
129 X 4 T et chordal 4 voices simult.
129 X 4 B f chordal 4 voices simult.
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: ‘‘WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?’

O
■O
D
cq '
130 y 4 S c chordal 4 voices simult.

130 y 4 A e chordal 4 voices simult.
O’ 130 y 4 T at chordal 4 voices simult.
CD
—
i 130 y 4 B dt chordal 4 voices simult.
CD
■—Di
O Optional improvisation may include additional quotations of the melody before the Finale is played beginning in measure 131
co.
a
o 131 a 5 S/A/T/B b chordal full quote; 4 octaves
■—
D 131-132 b 6 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
Oi
132-133 b 6 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
CD 133-134 y 6 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
Q.
135 X 5 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
136 y 5 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
137 X 5 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
■CDD 138 5 S/T/B b chordal full quote; 3 octaves
y
(/)
(/)
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
(/) APPENDIX G
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE’

O
O
■D
cq '
I WSAYO 4 +4 T b melody/acc. other quote

2-3 X 9 S D melody/acc. full quote
4 y 6 S D melody/acc. full quote
O ’
CD
—
i 5 y’ 6 s D melody/acc. full quote
CD
■—
Di 6 y 6 s D melody/acc. full quote
O
o. 6-7 X 9 s D melody/acc. full quote
c 8 6 s D melody/acc. full quote
a y
o LA 8-10 z 9 s D melody/acc. full quote
O
■—
D 10-11 p 10 s D melody/acc. full quote
Oi
II-I2 p 8 s D melody/acc. full quote
CD
12-14 “q” 10 s D melody/acc. full quote
Q.
14-15 P 11 s D melody/acc. full quote
15-16 P 8 s D melody/acc. full quote
16-18 “q” 9 s D melody/acc. full quote
■CDD 18-19 X 9 s D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
18-19 X 9 A F contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
(/)
(/) 19-21 X+ y 9+6 A Bt contrapuntal
19-20 y 6 B Fl/Gt contrapuntal
20 X 6 T-A Bt contrapuntal
20-21 X 4 T a contrapuntal
20-21 X 7 B G contrapuntal
21-22 X 4 T Bt contrapuntal augmentation
21 X 7 S B contrapuntal
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
(/) APPENDIX G, CONTINUED

O
O
■D
cq '
21-22 X 9 T A contrapuntal
21-22 P 9 A D contrapuntal
O ’ 21-22 p+p 17 S At contrapuntal
CD
—
i 22 y 3 B D contrapuntal augmentation
CD
■—
Di 22-23 X+ y 12 A C contrapuntal
O
o. 22-23 X 9 T B contrapuntal
c 23-25 p+p 17 B-T B contrapuntal
a
o C-A 23-24 X 6 S E contrapuntal elision
■—
D 23-24 5 A G contrapuntal
Oi y
23-24 X 2 T-B C contrapuntal elision
CD 24-25 X 6 B B/Dtt contrapuntal elision
Q.
24-25 X 7 S G contrapuntal
25-26 y 3 S-A B/DI contrapuntal elision
25-26 p 8 B Bt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
■CDD 7 T D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
25-26 p
(/) 26 WSAYO 8 S Rt contrapuntal other quote; pent.
(/) 6 T G contrapuntal
26 X
26-27 X 9 T D contrapuntal
26-28 X 3 B G contrapuntal augmentation
27-28 X 9 S E contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
27-28 X 9 A C contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
27-28 X 9 A G contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
28-29 X 6 T Bt contrapuntal augmentation
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
o
CD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE"

o
■oO Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
cq '
28 X 9 S B contrapuntal 3 vc.; 8ve doubling

28 X 9 A O/B contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
28 X 9 A a contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
O’ 28-29 X 9 B Gt contrapuntal
CD
—
i 29-30 X 6 A-S D contrapuntal
CD
■—Di 29-30 y 5 A D contrapuntal
O 29-30 6 B F contrapuntal
co.
z
a 30-32 X 6 B B contrapuntal augment.; elision

o Ln 30-32 18 S Dt contrapuntal
to p+p
■—
D 31-32 9 T F contrapuntal
Oi X
32-34 X 6 B D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult
CD 32-34 X 6 B/T Fl contrapuntal 2 vc. simult
Q.
32-36 p+p 18 S Bt contrapuntal aug., 8ve. doubling
33-34 X 6 T a contrapuntal augmentation
35-36 X 6 B B melody/acc.
■CDD
36 X 6 B B melody/acc. elision
(/) 37-38 X 6 S/A ■B melody/acc. ornamented; pent.
(/)
38 X 5 S/A B melody/acc. ornamented; pent.
40-41 WSAYO 4 S/A pentatonic melody/acc. other quote; 2 vc.
42-43 X 4 T B contrapuntal
42-43 X 8 B B contrapuntal
43-44 y 6 S Dt contrapuntal 8ve. doubling
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
O.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”

O
o
■D
cq '
44 y 3 S/A A^ contrapuntal augmentation

44-45 WSAYO 4 S/A pentatonic contrapuntal other quote; 2
O ’ 46 y 3 S Dt melody/acc. block chords
CD
—
i 47-48 y 6 B A contrapuntal
CD
■—Di 48 X 6 T/A A contrapuntal
O 48 X 6 S-A Et contrapuntal diminution
co. Bt contrapuntal diminution
a 48-49 y 6 S
o 48-49 II T A contrapuntal
p
■—
D 49 6 A Bt contrapuntal
Oi X
49 X 6 B G contrapuntal
CD 49 y 3 S E contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
Q.
49 y 3 A C contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
49 y 3 A G contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.
49-50 X 6 S B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
■CDD
49-50 X 6 A Ct contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
(/) 49-50 X 6 B A contrapuntal 8ve. doubling
(/) parallel 6ths
50 p 10 S D contrapuntal
50-51 X 4 s F contrapuntal
51 y 6 s A chordal 4 vc. simult.
51 y 5 A F chordal 4 vc. simult.
51 y 5 T C chordal 4 vc. simult.
51 y 5 B (jt chordal 4 vc. simult.
51-52 y 3 S F contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.;; aug.
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
O.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
cq '
51-52 y 3 A Dt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; aug.

52 y 3 S E contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
52 y 3 A G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
O ’ 52-53 X 9 B At contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD
—
i 52-53 X 9 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD
■—
Di 53 y 5 S A contrapuntal
O
o. 53 6 A Fl contrapuntal staccato
c y
a 53-54 X 8 A G contrapuntal
o 53-54 X 8 A/T B contrapuntal
■—
D 53-54 3 S At contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
Oi y
53-54 y 3 A B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
CD 54 X 6 A-S G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
Q.
54 X 6 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
54-55 p 11 B Bt contrapuntal syncop.; 8ve doubling
55 X 6 S D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
■CDD
55 X 6 A Bb contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
(/) 55 X 4 B F i /a contrapuntal 8ve doubling
(/)
55 y 3 S At contrapuntal diminution
55 y 3 S At contrapuntal repeat
55-56 p 5 S Fl contrapuntal 8ve doubling
56 y 3 B C contrapuntal augmentation
56 p 7 A G contrapuntal
57-58 X 5 B B unaccompanied palm clusters
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE”

O
O
■D
cq '
58 y 3 S Gt chordal 5 vc. simult.

58 y 3 A Fl chordal 5 vc. simult.
O ’ 58 y 3 A E chordal 5 vc. simult.
CD
—
i 58 y 3 A D chordal 5 vc. simult.
CD
■—
Di 58 y 3 A A chordal 5 vc. simult.
O
o. 58 X 5 B B contrapuntal
c S contrapuntal 8ve doubling
a 58 p 7 E
o Ln 58 X 3 B D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
■—
D Ln
58 3 T Cl contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
Oi X
59 X 6 S E contrapuntal
CD 59 X 6 B E contrapuntal
Q.
59 X 6 B E contrapuntal elision
59-60 X 3 S E contrapuntal elision
59 X 5 B E contrapuntal elision
■CDD S E chordal 6 vc. simult.
60 y 3
60 y 3 A C chordal 6 vc. simult.
(/)
(/) 60 3 A G chordal 6 vc. simult.
y
60 y 3 T D l/B chordal 6 vc. simult.
60 y 3 T B chordal 6 vc. simult.
60 y 3 B Fl chordal 6 vc. simult.
63 X 6 S F contrapuntal
63 X 6 A C contrapuntal
63-64 X 6 S F contrapuntal elision
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
■O
D
cq '
63-64 X 6 A C contrapuntal elision

64-65 DM 8 S a chordal 3 vc., other quote
O’ 64-65 DM 8 A A chordal 3 vc., other quote
CD
—
i 64-65 DM 8 T E chordal 3 vc., other quote
CD
■—Di 65-66 X 4 B D contrapuntal 8ve doubling
O 66-67 X 9 S D melody/acc. ragtime variation
co. 67 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
a X
o L/\ 68 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
Os
y
■—
D 69 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
Oi y’
70 y 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
CD 71 X 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
Q.
72 y 6 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
72-74 z 9 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
74-75 p 11 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
■CDD 75-76 7 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
p
76-78 q 10 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
(/)
(/) 78-79 11 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
p
79-80 p 7 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
80-82 q 10 T D contrapuntal on repeat only
82 X 3 B D contrapuntal on repeat only
83 y 3 S D contrapuntal
83-84 X 6 s B^ contrapuntal
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
■D
cq '
84-86 X 6 B C contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; aug.

84-86 X 6 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; aug.
O ’ 84 X 6 A G contrapuntal
CD
—
i 85-86 P 9 A B contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 85-86 y 6 S C contrapuntal
O
o. 88-89 X 6 s F melody/acc.
c 89-90 X 6 s A melody/acc.
a
o
U\
■—
D <1
Oi
CD
Q.
■CDD
(/)
(/)
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
o
CD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
(/) APPENDIX H
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES’

O
O
cq '
2 a 3 S Gt palm clusters
2 a 3 B F palm clusters
4 a 3 B Bt palm clusters
O ’ 5 a 3 S Gt palm clusters
CD
—
i 5 a 3 B F palm clusters
CD
■—Di 7 a 3 B Bt palm clusters
O 51 a -1- b 4-t2 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
co. 2 vc. simult.
a 51 a+b 4-1-2 A Dt melody/acc.
o 52 a’ 4 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
■—
D 00
Oi 52 a’ 4 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
53 b’ 6 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
CD 53 b’ 6 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
Q.
53-54 d 9 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
53-54 d 9 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
55 e 7 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
■CDD
55 e 7 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
(/) 56 a 6 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
(/)
56 a 6 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
56-57 e 4 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
56-57 c 4 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
57-58 d 9 S F melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
57-58 d 9 A Dt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
60 a 4 B Bt melody/acc. repeated
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
(/) APPENDIX H, CONTINUED
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS; “WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES’

O
O
cq '
61 a 4 S-A A melody/acc. repeated

62 a 4 A-B B melody/acc. repeated
65 c 4 S G melody/acc. repeated
66 c 4 S G melody/acc. repeated
O ’
CD
—
i 67 a 4 S B melody/acc. repeated
CD
■—
Di 68 a 4 S Bt contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
O
o. 68 a 4 A B contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
c 68 a 4 A At contrapuntal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
a
o 69 a 4 S F chordal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
■—
D 69 a 4 A Bt chordal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
Oi
69 a 4 A B chordal 3 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD 96 c 4 S Bt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.; par. 3rds
Q.
96 c 4 A G melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.; par. 3rds
99-100 e 7 S Bt melody/acc. 8ve displace.; G blues
101-104 a’ + b ’ 9+12 S Bt melody/acc. variation
■CDD Bt melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
104-105 c 4 S
(/) 104-105 c 4 A a melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
(/)
105-106 c 4 A Bt melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
105-106 c 4 A B melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
106-107 c 4 S Bt melody/acc. 2 vc.; 8ve doubling
106-107 c 4 A B melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
107-108 d’ 6 S Bt melody/acc 3 vc. simult.; clusters
107-108 d’ 6 A a melody/acc 3 vc. simult.; clusters
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

oo
cq '
107-108 d’ 6 A F melody/acc 3 vc. simult.; clusters

109-110 e 8 S Bt melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
109-110 e 7 A a melody/acc. 2 vc. simult.
O ’ 113 a 9 S a melody/acc. full quote
CD
—
i 113-114 b 9 S Gt melody/acc. full quote
CD
■—
Di 115 a’ 10 S a melody/acc. full quote
O
o. 115-116 b’ 11 S a melody/acc. full quote
c
a 116 b’ 4 A A contrapuntal
o Os 116-117 c 4 S a contrapuntal
o
■—
D 117 b’ 4 S Dt contrapuntal
Oi
117 b’ 4 A E contrapuntal augmentation
CD 117 a 4 B B contrapuntal 8ve doubling
Q.
117 a 4 A Bt contrapuntal
118 b’ 4 T A contrapuntal
118 b’ 4 B F contrapuntal
■CDD
118-119 a 4 A D contrapuntal
(/) 119 e 7 S Bt contrapuntal
(/)
119 e 7 B B contrapuntal diminution
119 a 4 A G contrapuntal
119-120 e 4 B G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
119-120 e 4 T Fit contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
120 b’ 4 A G contrapuntal
120-121 b’ 10 S-A B contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
■O
D
cq '
120 a 4 S A contrapuntal
121 e 3 B G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
O’ 121 e 3 T n contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.
CD
—
i 121 b’ 3 A F contrapuntal
CD
■—
Di 121 a 4 S B contrapuntal
O
o. 121 c 4 T B\> contrapuntal
c 121-122 b’ 10 S C contrapuntal
a
o Os 122-123 e 7 B C contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
■—
D 122-123 e 7 T G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
Oi
122 b 6 A/T D contrapuntal
CD 122 a 4 A Et contrapuntal
Q.
122-123 e 7 T-A C contrapuntal
122 a 4 S a contrapuntal
123 b’ 3 S a contrapuntal
■CDD Gt contrapuntal diminution
123 b’ 3 S
(/) 123 b’ 4 A A contrapuntal stretto
(/) b’ 4 S-A c contrapuntal stretto
123
123 b’ 4 S At contrapuntal stretto
123 c 4 B Ct/B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
123 c 4 T a contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
123-124 a 4 S G contrapuntal
124 c 4 B Bt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
124 c 4 T F contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

oo
cq '
124 a 3 A F contrapuntal
124 b’ 6 S A contrapuntal
124 c 4 B A contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
124 c 4 T E contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
O ’
CD
—
i 124 c 4 B At contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD
■—Di 124 c 4 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
O 124 a 4 A Bt contrapuntal
co. 124-125 a 4 B At contrapuntal
a
o Os 125 c 4 S D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
to
■—
D 125 c 4 A G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
Oi
125 0 4 A Dt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD 125 c 4 T a contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
Q.
125 c 4 B F contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125 c 4 T C contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125 a 4 S-A Dt contrapuntal
■CDD B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125 c 4 S
(/) 125 c 4 A E contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
(/) 4 A Bt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125 c
125 c 4 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125-126 c 4 B D contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125-126 c 4 T A contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125-126 c 4 S At contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
125-126 c 4 A Dt contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)

O
O
cq ' (# of pitches) (SATB)
126 c 4 A G contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths

126 c 4 T C contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
126 c 4 B B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
O ’ 126 c 4 T Fl contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
CD
—
i 126 b’ 4 S F# contrapuntal
CD
■—Di 126 a 4 A D contrapuntal
O 126 d 4 T-B Ht contrapuntal augmentation
co.
a 126 b’ 4 A A contrapuntal
o b’ 4 A C contrapuntal
Os
oo 126
■—
D 126 a 4 S Rt contrapuntal
Oi
126-127 b’ 4 T B contrapuntal
CD 127 d 4 B At contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
Q.
127 d 4 T B contrapuntal 2 vc. simult.; par. 5ths
127 a 4 A A contrapuntal augmentation
127 b’ 7 S Fl contrapuntal
■CDD
127 c 4 T/A At contrapuntal
(/) 127 d 4 A C contrapuntal
(/)
127-128 b 7 S-A D contrapuntal
128 e 7 T B contrapuntal
128-129 e 7 S A contrapuntal 8ve doubling
128-129 d 4 A/T B contrapuntal
128-129 e 7 T At contrapuntal
129 e 7 B/T F contrapuntal
■CDD
O
Q.
C
oCD
Q.
■CDD
C/)
C/)
APPENDIX H, CONTINUED
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: ‘WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES’

O
o
■D
cq' Measure Motive Length Voice Tonality Texture Other
129-130 d 4 S a contrapuntal
130-132 b’ 10 B F contrapuntal 2 vc./aug.; par.
130-132 b’ 10 T c contrapuntal 2 vc./aug.; par,
CD
130 a 10 A At contrapuntal
CD
■D 130 b’ 4 A c contrapuntal
O
Q. 130 b’ 4 S a contrapuntal
C
a 130-131 e 7 s Bt contrapuntal
o ON 131 c 4 s C contrapuntal
■D 4:^
O 131 a 4 A c contrapuntal
131 c 4 s At contrapuntal
CD
Q.
131-132 c 4 s Et contrapuntal
132 d 5 A Et contrapuntal
132 c 4 S B contrapuntal
■CDD
132 c 4 s F contrapuntal
132 c 4 s Et contrapuntal 8ve doubling
(/)
C/)
133-135 e 4 s E contrapuntal 11 times
133-135 e 4 T-B Bt contrapuntal 5 times
136 a 9 S F melody/acc. full quote
136-137 b 9 s F melody/acc. full quote
138 a’ 10 s F melody/acc. full quote
138-139 b’ 11 s F melody/acc. full quote
139-140 c 8 s F melody/acc. full quote
140-141 d 10 s F melody/acc. full quote
7J
■CD—
Di
O
o.
c
oCD
Q.
■CDD
w APPENDIX H, CONTINUED
SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS; “WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES’

CD
O
O
■D
CD 142 e 7 S F melody/acc. full quote

143 a’ 10 S F melody/acc. full quote
143-144 b’ 11 S F melody/acc. full quote
CD
144-145 c 8 S F melody/acc. full quote
CD 145-146 d’ 9 S F melody/acc. full quote
■—Di
O
co.
a
o
Os
■Q ^
o
CD
O.
■CDD
C/)
(/)
APPENDIX I
SUMMARY OF QUOTATION TYPES USED BY

FREDERIC RZEWSKI IN THE NORTH AMERICAN BALLADS
Quotation methods used in this study are defined by J. Peter Burkholder in

All Made o f Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses o f Musical Borrowing.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Cumulative setting

“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”
Variations
“Dreadful Memories”
“Down By the Riverside”
Modeling
Setting
“Dreadful Memories”
Stylistic allusion

Programmatic quotation
166

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QUOTATION, REVOLUTION, AND AMERICAN CULTURE:

THE USE OF FOLK TUNES AND THE INFLUENCE

OF CHARLES IVES IN FREDERIC RZEWSKI’S

NORTH AMERICAN BALLADS

FOR SOLO PIANO

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ProQuest Information and Learning Company

The music of American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) has generated

borrowing. Ives incorporated quotations of hundreds of American folk tunes, patriotic

borrowing, discussion of other twentieth-century American composers who used

quotation as a compositional procedure, and examination of a compositional model

applied to the music of Charles Ives by J. Peter Burkholder.

procedures of Ives. The investigative process applied to each of Rzewski’s Ballads

defined by Burkholder, were found to be used by Rzewski in the North American

Ballads: cumulative setting or pre-imitation, variations, modeling, setting an existing

juxtaposition, polytonal contrapuntal layering, and a thematic use of melodic quotation.

who insisted that I never forfeit my aspirations,

and who selflessly indulged my need to spend countless hours

on this project and away from my family.

As always, you arc my inspiration and support.

This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the

Faculty of The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Date of Acceptance by Committee

Date of Final Oral Examination

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the following individuals at the

their valuable suggestions and encouragement.

University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Dr. Christopher Wilkinson at West Virginia

I. QUOTATION AND CHARLES IVES.................................................................. I

A History of Musical Borrowing.................................................................... 3

II. QUOTATION AND FREDERIC RZEWSKI..................................................... 23

Folk Tunes and Rzewski’s North American Ballads.................................. 26

III. “DREADFUL MEMORIES’’.................................................................................33

An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting...............................................................38

IV. “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?” ........................................................................ 47

An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting...............................................................57

V. “DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE” ......................................................................... 71

An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting...............................................................80

VI. “WINNSBORO COTTON MILL BLUES” .........................................................87

An Overview of Rzewski’s Setting...............................................................94

VII. CONCLUSION: A COMPARISON OF IVES AND RZEWSKI...................105

APPENDIX A. IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS OF AMERICAN FOLK

APPENDIX B. THE SOLO PIANO MUSIC OF FREDERIC RZEWSKI..................121

APPENDIX C. LIST OF WORKS CONSTRUCTED ON AMERICAN

APPENDIX D. WORDS AND MUSIC TO THE FOLK SONGS QUOTED

APPENDIX E. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DREADFUL

APPENDIX F. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS; “WHICH

APPENDIX G. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS: “DOWN

APPENDIX H. SUMMARY OF IDENTIFIED QUOTATIONS:.................................158

APPENDIX I. SUMMARY OF QUOTATION TYPES USED BY

3.1 “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune and Lyrics.......................................................... 34

3.2 Grouping Structure Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune....................... 37

3.3 Schenkerian Analysis of “Dreadful Memories” Folk Tune................................... 38

3.4 Frequency Distribution of Quotations in “Dreadful Memories” .......................... 43

4.3 “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Verse).................................... 53

4.4 “Which Side Are You On?” Melody Comparison (Chorus).................................54

4.7 “Which Side Are You On?” Motive Z .....................................................................59

5.1 “Down By the Riverside” Folk Tune and Lyrics.................................................... 72

5.2 “Down By the Riverside” Melody Comparison..................................................... 74